Employment disputes

New and updated

• Date:

  1 September 1994

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  £10,000 for harassment

  Compensation of £10,000 has been awarded by a Leeds industrial tribunal (Chair: P A Morris) in Miss A and Miss B v R1 and R2 to each of two employees in respect of injury to feelings resulting from sexual harassment.

• Date:

  1 September 1994

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Bias shown by tribunal chair

  In Laher v London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham the EAT has set aside the decision of an industrial tribunal dismissing a race discrimination complaint on grounds that there was bias shown by the tribunal chair against the applicant.

• Date:

  1 September 1994

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  No time limit on part-time workers' claims

  In Kamal v Wakefield Health Authority a Leeds industrial tribunal (Chair: J Prophet) has ruled that until new legislation has been enacted, there is no time limits on claims brought under Article 119 of the EC Treaty based on the decision of the House of Lords that the hours-per-week qualifying thresholds under the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act are incompatible with EC law.

• Date:

  1 September 1994

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Time runs from 22.11.93

  The time limit for bringing a complaint against a public sector employer in respect of discriminatory retirement did not begin to run until the date the Sex Discrimination and Equal Pay (Remedies) Regulations 1993 came into force, rules a Southampton industrial tribunal (Chair: I T Soulsby) in Wild v Portsmouth & SE Hants Health Authority.

• Date:

  1 August 1994

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Mulox IBC Ltd v Geels

  In Mulox IBC Ltd v Geels [1994] IRLR 422 ECJ, the European Court of Justice held that legal proceedings in respect of disputes arising out of contracts of employment should be brought in the country in which the employee carries out the activities agreed with the employer, rather than the country in which the employer's establishment is located.

• Date:

  1 June 1994

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Record £300,000 sex bias award

  In Homewood v Ministry of Defence a Glasgow industrial tribunal (Chair: H J Murphy) has awarded £299,851 to a former army major who was forced to resign when she became pregnant.

• Date:

  1 June 1994

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Training recommendation

  A recommendation that staff who come into contact with job applicants be trained in the provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and that all those handling job applications and conducting interviews be trained in the avoidance of unlawful discrimination has been made by a Middlesborough industrial tribunal (Chair: J D Myers) in Dickinson and Field v Mason and Mason.

• Date:

  15 December 1993

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Unfair dismissal remedies: Not practicable to re-engage Tilbury shop stewards

  When deciding whether to order the re-employment of an unfairly dismissed employee, an industrial tribunal only has to make a "provisional" determination or assessment on the practicability of the employer complying with such an order, holds the Court of Appeal in Port of London Authority v Payne and others.

• Date:

  1 September 1993

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Compensation limit unlawful

  In Marshall v Southampton and South-West Hampshire Area Health Authority (No.2) (2 August 1993) EOR51A, the European Court of Justice rules that it is contrary to European Community law for a fixed upper limit to be placed on the compensation which can be awarded for the loss and damage suffered as a result of sex discrimination.

• Date:

  1 July 1993

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discrimination: Compensation cannot include exemplary damages

  An industrial tribunal has no power to award exemplary damages in a discrimination case, holds the EAT in Deane v London Borough of Ealing and another, following the ruling of the Court of Appeal in Gibbons and others v South West Water Services Ltd.