JURISDICTIONAL POINTS – Extension of time: just and equitable
UNFAIR DISMISSAL – Reinstatement /re-engagement
UNFAIR DISMISSAL – Compensation
CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT – Damages for breach of contract
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Striking-out/dismissal
In three wide ranging appeals arising from three separate decisions dealing with two claims by former restaurant managers of wrongful dismissal, unfair dismissal, discrimination, harassment, deduction from earnings and other claims, it had not been shown that the tribunal had erred in any way. All three appeals failed on all grounds.
In the first appeal, the tribunal had been justified in extending time for presenting the claims alleging harassment on the ground of race and/or religion. It had not erred in applying the maximum 25 per cent uplift for unfair dismissal compensation and had set out sufficient reasons for selecting the maximum figure. It had not unfairly favoured the claimants by adjourning the contract claims to the remedies stage and then agreeing (under rule 52 of the ET Rules of Procedure) not to dismiss them on their withdrawal.
In the second appeal, the tribunal had been justified on the evidence then before it in finding that following the first claimant’s unfair dismissal, it was practicable for the first respondent restaurant company to reinstate the first claimant; and in rejecting the employer’s case that reinstatement was not economically viable and that trust and confidence in the first claimant had broken down. The tribunal had not erred in finding that the first claimant had not contributed to his dismissal by his conduct; nor in describing reinstatement as the ‘primary remedy’ for unfair dismissal.
In the third appeal, the tribunal had been justified in receiving an affirmation from the second respondent contradicting the evidence given (in the second respondent’s absence) at the previous remedies hearing and in revisiting and altering on the basis of that affirmation and further written submissions without a further oral hearing (no such further hearing having been sought by the first claimant after receiving the affirmation) its previous, provisional finding that reinstatement was practicable, deciding that it was not and that compensation only should be awarded instead.
Citations:
[2019] UKEAT 0224 – 18 – 3107
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 06 September 2022; Ref: scu.642752