In the MMD this week we look forward to the next seminar in our 2023 seminar program.

On the 22 February 2023 we will be examining the essentials of the employment contract and how technology can be used to your advantage. If you would like to attend, please reply to this email, or contact our team at the email below.

In addition to the seminar, we have the second of our updates looking at redundancy and suitable alternatives. Outside of employment and regulatory law we have another update from our litigation team this time on misrepresentation claims relating to property information forms.

 The Media Hub

Redundancy & Suitable Alternative Employment – Part 2 of 4

This video focuses on the method of selecting which employees should be offered particular alternative employment and discusses the concept of trial periods.

To watch this week’s video, please click on the link below:

Link

There have been lots of relevant employment law/HR updates this week.

EAT grants extension of time for server error

The deadline for appealing the tribunal decision that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the Claimant’s unfair dismissal claim was 4pm on 9 February 2021 in this case. At 3.29pm that day, the Claimant emailed some appeal documents to the EAT, but the notice of appeal and tribunal judgment were mistakenly omitted. Once the Claimant realised this, he sent a further email at 3.33pm including these documents however this second email was never received by the EAT. The EAT emailed the Claimant confirming they had not received the necessary documents however even though the Claimant provided copies of his second email and explained his internet server issues, his request for an extension of time was refused. The Claimant successfully appealed to the EAT as the reason for the non-arrival was a technical issue which was not his fault.

https://www.gov.uk/employment-appeal-tribunal-decisions/alexander-hawkes-v-oxford-economics-ltd-2022-eat-179

Not unfair to reopen disciplinary proceedings and dismiss for matters that had already been the subject of a final warning

In this case the Claimant had undergone a disciplinary process and received a final written warning for incidents including bullying and victimising an employee by seeking to interfere in the investigation of her sexual orientation discrimination complaint, and racial harassment and discrimination against another employee. Following this, the Trust’s management was taken over and a further disciplinary hearing was held by the new CEO and the Claimant was dismissed. An employment tribunal rejected the claimant’s unfair dismissal claim. She appealed to the EAT, arguing that the disciplinary proceedings should not have been reopened however the EAT found that the dismissal was not unfair and her appeal was dismissed.

https://www.gov.uk/employment-appeal-tribunal-decisions/dr-vivienne-lyfar-cisse-v-western-sussex-university-hospitals-nhs-foundation-trust-and-others-2022-eat-193

Documents relating to claimant’s previous period of employment with respondent admissible at remedy hearing

The Claimant succeeded in a claim for direct disability discrimination against his employer following the withdrawal of the job offer of Trainee Health and Safety Inspector. The position was offered on 20 December 2018, with a start date of 4 March 2019, but was withdrawn on 28 February 2019. The Claimant was not disabled within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 however the job offer was made on the basis of perceived disability. The Claimant had worked for the Company previously as a Trainee Inspector from 21 April 2008 until 7 January 2011 however did not complete his training. At a preliminary hearing, an employment judge ordered that the documents relating to Mr Jowett’s previous employment with HSE should not be admitted at the remedy hearing as some of the documents were 10 years old and would not be relevant to the issue of how long the Claimant would have remained employed. The Claimant appealed to the EAT who ruled that the documents were admissible and could be relied on by the parties at the remedy hearing.

https://www.gov.uk/employment-appeal-tribunal-decisions/health-and-safety-executive-v-mr-m-jowett-2022-eat-151

Essentials of Contracts Seminar in conjunction with Evalu8

Date – Wednesday 22nd February 2023

Time – Arrival from 8:30am, Seminar 9:00am-10:00am

Location – Wakefield Office – Paragon Business Village, Red Hall Crescent, Wakefield, WF1 2DF

Chadwick Lawrence will be partnering with Evaul-8 on this seminar which will focus on the importance of contracts of employment.

Chadwick Lawrence will present on the essentials of contracts and how they govern the employment relationship. There will be a focus on the legislative requirements of a contract, whilst also understanding how these can be legitimately varied if needed due to business needs.

Evalu-8 will then demonstrate how to store, send, sign and track documents in Evalu-8 enabling these to be sent to numerous employees quickly and efficiently.

Focus On – Dispute Resolution

Each week we thought we would provide you with an insight into our other commercial areas of law outside of the Employment team. This week Kaye Willis from our Dispute Resolution team has prepared an article on the Seller’s Property Information Form in Property Misrepresentation claims.  Please see the below attachment.

Misrepresentation on Property Information Form