Industrial tribunal: Inappropriate use of preliminary hearings

An industrial tribunal chair sitting alone had no power to conduct a preliminary hearing to determine whether an applicant was an employee for the purposes of pursuing an unfair dismissal complaint, holds the EAT in Mobbs v Nuclear Electric plc [1996] IRLR 536. The Rules of Procedure for industrial tribunals only permit a tribunal chair to sit alone to determine an issue relating to the entitlement of a party to bring proceedings when this can be properly be done on the basis of written representations and oral submissions.