The employee had claimed damages for unfair dismissal. The Revenue had subsequently changed its policy on retirement, but did not disclose this to the claimant. The change would have altered the calculation of the damages.
Held: A calculation based upon the new policy would have resulted in a larger multiplicand for the loss of earnings. Although the change in policy later came into the public domain, it was not disclosed when the change occurred, and the revenue, having originally disclosed the first policy remained under a continuing obligation to disclose the change. The court would not have power to remit the case on that ground since the point was known but unpursued at the EAT, but since it was being remitted on other grounds, the parties might reconsider their submissions.
The relevant question in considering whether the pursuit, or defence, of a claim was misconceived was not whether the party in question thought they were right but whether they had reasonable grounds for so thinking.
Judges:
Lord Justice Sedley, Lord Justice Wall, And Mr Justice Pumfrey
Citations:
[2004] EWCA Civ 400, Times 19-Apr-2004, [2004] IRLR 713, [2004] ICR 1410
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Alexander v Home Office CA 1988
Prisoners are a section of the public for the purposes of the 1976 Act. The Court increased an award for injury to feelings awarded for race discrimination by prison officers from pounds 50 to pounds 500. The court considered the appropriate level . .
Cited – Vento v The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police (No 2) CA 20-Dec-2002
The claimant had been awarded damages for sex discrimination, including a sum of andpound;25,000 for injury to feelings. The respondent appealed.
Held: The Court of Appeal looked to see whether there had been an error of law in the employment . .
Cited – Gee v Shell UK Ltd CA 24-Oct-2002
The claimant sought an award for unfair dismissal. A similar case had been decided against another worker, and the respondent warned that it would want its costs. The tribunal gave her a warning that she was at risk of a costs order. She withdrew . .
Cited – British Aerospace plc v Green and Others CA 18-Apr-1995
The employer was to make 530 members of its staff redundant. Each staff member was assessed and scored. The claimants said that the method of selection was unfair, and sought disclosure of the scores of all employees.
Held: It was wrong to . .
Cited by:
Cited – Vaughan v London Borough of Lewisham and Others (Practice and Procedure : Costs) EAT 6-Jun-2013
EAT Practice and Procedure : Costs – Tribunal orders that Appellant should pay Respondents one-third of their costs (estimated prior to assessment at andpound;260,000) on the basis that the claim was misconceived . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.195639