The industrial tribunal had made a finding of direct race discrimination. The Employment Appeal Tribunal found the decision perverse, and ordered a rehearing. The applicant appealed that order.
Held: The EAT must be careful not to take disagreements as to findings on facts as faults in law. No appeal on a question of law should be allowed to be turned into a rehearing of parts of the evidence by the appeal tribunal. The EAT had made that mistake here. A finding of fact should be set aside only in the very clearest cases of perversity, and even though the appeal tribunal might have grave doubts about the decision, it had to proceed with great care, and an appeal: ‘ought only to succeed where an overwhelming case is made out that the Employment Tribunal reached a decision which no reasonable tribunal on a proper appreciation of the evidence and the law would have reached.’ Mummery LJ said: ‘Inevitably there will from time to time be cases in which an Employment Tribunal has unfortunately erred by misunderstanding the evidence, leading it to make a crucial finding of fact unsupported by evidence or contrary to uncontradicted evidence. In such cases the appeal will usually succeed.’
Brooke LJ, Mummery LJ, Sir Christopher Slade
Times 20-Jun-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 794, [2002] IRLR 634, [2004] ICR 257
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Crofton v Yeboah EAT 16-May-2001
After a very long hearing, the appellant had been found guilty of race discrimination in his making of allegations about the behaviour of the respondent in failing to investigate corruption within Hackney London Borough Council.
Held: The . .
Cited – British Telecommunications Plc v Sheridan CA 1990
The appellant employers challenged the decision of the EAT to reverse the tribunal’s finding that the claimant had been fairly dismissed.
Held: Even in cases where the Appeal Tribunal has ‘grave doubts’ about the decision of the Employment . .
See Also – Crofton v Yeboah and Another EAT 8-Jul-1999
Application to amend notice of appeal. . .
See Also – Yeboah v Crofton CA 31-Jul-2001
Application for leave to appeal. . .
See Also – Crofton v Yeboah and Another EAT 6-Mar-2000
. .
Cited by:
Cited – Matthews and others v Kent and Medway Towns Fire Authority and others CA 2-Jul-2004
Part time retained firefighters claimed discrimination under the Regulations when their conditions of service were compared with those of full-time firefighters. They appealed a finding that they had been employed under different types of contract . .
See Also – Crofton v Yeboah EAT 26-Jul-2002
. .
See Also – Crofton v Yeboah EAT 12-Sep-2002
EAT Race Discrimination – Injury to feelings . .
Cited – Matthews and others v Kent and Medway Towns and Fire Authority and others HL 1-Mar-2006
Retained or part-time firefighters sought parity of working conditions with full time firefighters.
Held: The retained firefighters’ appeal succeeded (Lords Carswell and Mance dissenting). The test was whether the part-time and full time . .
Cited – Unison v Leicestershire County Council CA 29-Jun-2006
The council had dismissed all workers within a group of employees, and invited them to re-apply for their jobs. The council now appealed a protective award made on the basis that there had been inadequate consultation with the union.
Held: The . .
Cited – Hay v Surrey County Council CA 16-Feb-2007
The claimant had been employed driving a mobile library. She came to suffer back problems, and was dismissed when the respondent said that she could not work within a library without the ability to lift, after she turned down a move to a different . .
See Also – Yeboah v Crofton CA 31-Jul-2001
Application for leave to appeal. . .
Cited – Sandhu v Jan De Rijk Transport Ltd CA 10-May-2007
The court was asked whether the claimant had been dismissed or had resigned. He had attended a meeting to be told that his contract was to be finished. The company later complained that he had resigned when they were unable to reach a compromise on . .
See Also – Crofton v Yeboah EAT 12-Sep-2002
EAT Race Discrimination – Injury to feelings. . .
See Also – Crofton v Yeboah and Another EAT 17-Apr-2000
. .
Cited – Claridge v Daler Rowney Ltd EAT 4-Jul-2008
EAT UNFAIR DISMISSAL: Constructive dismissal
The Employment Tribunal held the employee had not been constructively dismissed. One of the complaints related to defects in the handling of the grievance . .
Cited – UK Coal Mining Ltd v National Union of Mineworkers (Northumberland Area) and Another EAT 27-Sep-2007
The employer appealed against a protective award made for failing to consult the union on prospective redundancies.
Held: The appeal failed. The duty to consult arose as soon as the redundancies were fixed as a clear, even if there had been . .
Cited – Stockton on Tees Borough Council v Aylott EAT 11-Mar-2009
EAT JURISDICTIONAL POINTS
Extension of time: just and equitable
2002 Act and pre-action requirements
DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION
Disability related discrimination
Direct disability . .
Cited – Sunley v HMP Durham EAT 12-Mar-2009
EAT PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Striking-out/dismissal / Review
Review of strike-out decision. Employment Tribunal misunderstanding of agreed fact on material to exercise of discretion. EAT allowed appeal and . .
Cited – Beasley v National Grid CA 6-Jun-2008
The claimant had presented his unfair dismissal claim 88 seconds late. He appealed against refusal of jurisdiction by the Employent tribunal and the EAT.
Held: Leave was refused. The tribunal had given proper consideration to the question of . .
Cited – Harding v Hampshire County Council EAT 10-May-2005
EAT Unfair dismissal
Appellant dismissed after internal disciplinary enquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct. The only issue before Employment Tribunal was the reasonableness of the employer’s . .
Cited – British Broadcasting Corporation v Sugar and Another Admn 2-Oct-2009
Disclosure was sought of a report prepared by the BBC to assess the balance of its coverage of middle east affairs. The BBC said that the information was not held for purposes other than those of journalism, art or literature. One issue was whether . .
Applied – Zaiwalla and Co (a Firm) v Walia EAT 24-Jul-2002
The claimant sought aggravated damages for the aggressive way the respondent firm had defended her action for sex discrimination.
Held: In exceptional circumstances, and this was one, the tribunal could award additional damages where a . .
Cited – HM Land Registry v Grant EAT 15-Apr-2010
hmlr_grantEAT10
EAT SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION/TRANSEXUALISM
HARASSMENT – Conduct
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Appellate Jurisdiction /Reasons /Burns-Barke
An Employment Tribunal accepted that 6 out of 12 . .
Applied – Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust v Roldan CA 13-May-2010
The employee appealed against the reversal by the EAT of her successful claim for unfair dismissal. She had been dismissed for alleged gross misconduct in disrespectful treatment of a patient. She said that investigation had been procedurally . .
Cited – White v Burton’s Foods Ltd EAT 6-Jul-2010
EAT EQUAL PAY ACT – Like work
The Claimant had been employed by the Respondent since 1984 before becoming Production Planning Manager at the Respondent’s Blackpool site. She brought a claim under the Equal . .
Cited – Astle and others v Cheshire County Council and Omnisure Property Management Ltd EAT 20-May-2004
EAT Issue whether Employment Tribunal asked itself the right question and/or was perverse in failing to find that the principal reason for the Council’s changed arrangements was to thwart TUPE and hence that the . .
Cited – Tiffin v Lester Aldridge Llp EAT 16-Nov-2010
EAT CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT – Whether established
The Claimant, who is a solicitor, became a salaried partner in a partnership, which became a Limited Liability Partnership, which was the Respondent. The . .
Cited – Cumbria Probation Board v Collingwood EAT 28-May-2008
EAT DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION
Disability / Disability related discrimination / Reasonable adjustments
JURISDICTIONAL POINTS
>2002 Act and pre-action requirements
The date of disability is . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Justice v Slee EAT 19-Jul-2007
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Constructive dismissal
Maternity Rights and Parental Leave – Sex discrimination
The Claimant was employed as a Magistrates’ Clerk and she brought successful claims to the . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Justice v Slee (2) Admn 22-Jan-2010
The claimant had been unfairly dismissed from her position as justices’ clerk. After appeal her additional claims for retirement and other compensation under the 1978 Regulations had been remitted to the Employment tribunal which had reconsidered . .
Cited – Boardman v Nugent Care Society and Another EAT 10-Jul-2012
EAT UNFAIR DISMISSAL – Reasonableness of dismissal
Appeal by employee against Employment Tribunal’s finding (majority decision) that claims of unfair and wrongful dismissal fail. Teacher dismissed for gross . .
Cited – DC v London Borough of Ealing UTAA 11-Jan-2010
Tribunal procedure and practice (including UT) – statements of reasons . .
Cited – JJ Food Service Ltd v Zulhayir CA 16-Oct-2013
The employer appealed against the successful appeal by the employee to the EAT on the grounds of perversity notwithstanding that the parties agreed the facts found.
Held: The appeal was allowed. . .
Cited – Punjab National Bank (International) Ltd and Others v Gosain EAT 7-Jan-2014
EAT PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Preliminary issues – Whether court recordings of relevant meetings prior to Claimant’s alleged dismissal were to be admissible in evidence at trial insofar as they involved private . .
Cited – Department for Work and Pensions v The Information Commissioner and Another CA 27-Jul-2016
The applicant sought disclosure of certain organisations who had provided placements for those seeking work. They said that in the past disclosure had led to adverse publicity for those organisations, and refused disclosure under the department’s . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment, Discrimination
Leading Case
Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.172252