29 May 2015

A number of recent employment decisions are worth noting before heading off on summer holidays.

Way v Spectrum is authority for the proposition that a dismissal will be unfair if it relies on a final written warning (FWW) which was issued in bad faith, even if the employer argues that the employee should have been on his best behaviour given the existence of the FWW.

The case of Chestertons considered the fairly recent requirement that to count as a protected disclosure under whistleblowing legislation, a disclosure must be in the public interest and cannot relate solely to that particular employee. This case held that disclosure of wrongdoing, that affected a group of the employer’s staff in relation to calculation of bonuses, and not the wider public, was in the public interest and so was a protected disclosure. This is a fairly generous interpretation of “public interest”.

Salmon v Castlebeck Care considered an employee who lodged an appeal against dismissal, following a contractual right of appeal. It was held, surprisingly, that when the appeal hearer decides that the appeal should be upheld, that is enough for the employment to revive and the employee to be reinstated, there being no need for that decision to be communicated to the employee.

In the long running Woolworths litigation, the European Court decided that collective consultation about redundancies is triggered by a plan for 20+ redundancies at a particular location/business unit, not across the business as a whole. This is a relief for large employers who faced having to consult collectively in a far greater range of scenarios.

Employment law is fascinating and developing at a fast pace. Contact bto’s employment team to keep up to date.