In this week’s MMD we explore the use of bumping in a redundancy process, whilst ‘in the news’ we look at several Tribunal cases with a particular emphasis on dismissal.

Our seminar program kicks off this week with our annual salary guide presentation with Hays. Whilst outside the world of employment and regulatory law we have a feature from our debt recovery service Acclaim.

 The Media Hub

Bump in the line – redundancy considerations

This video explores the use of bumping in redundancy and restructure scenarios, and the factors which businesses might want to consider when determining whether to move senior employees into more junior roles to avoid dismissal.

To watch the video please click the following link:

Click here

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

Paralegal dismissed after nine days loses ADHD claim

In this recent case, the Claimant was appointed as a paralegal within the anti-piracy and compliance team. Following his appointment, the Claimant had been late on seven of the days on which he worked, and on one of the days he had requested to take a lunch break at 11:30am and did not return for over two hours, stating that he was attending his own eviction hearing. After hearing further reports of the Claimant’s behaviour, the firm dismissed the Claimant after nine days of employment. He later brought a claim for disability discrimination due to ADHD however this was rejected on the grounds that the Claimant never informed the firm about this condition. The judge also refused to accept that poor time-keeping should have indicated the underlying condition to the firm.

https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions/mr-m-nabeel-ud-din-v-t-hartland-and-others-t-slash-a-cjch-solicitors-1602197-slash-2019

Marital status discrimination

In this recent case, the Claimant, Ms Bacon, was married to the company’s majority shareholder, Mr Bacon. During the course of their divorce, the Claimant was dismissed and was subjected to various detriments by the Managing Director of the Company, by request of Mr Bacon. The Claimant brought subsequent marital status discrimination claims which were originally upheld by the tribunal. However, on appeal, the EAT overturned this decision and stated that the tribunal had failed to look at an appropriate hypothetical comparator, which in this case would be someone in a close relationship with a majority shareholder but was not married. This showed that to succeed in a claim for marital status discrimination, it is essential to show that the fact that someone was married was part of the ground for the unfavourable treatment.

https://www.gov.uk/employment-appeal-tribunal-decisions/mr-graham-ellis-v-1-ms-k-bacon-2-advanced-fire-solutions-ltd-in-administration-2022-eat-188

HGV driver unfairly dismissed after fight with colleague

In this recent case, the Claimant was dismissed after a physical altercation with another worker. During the altercation, the worker spat at the Claimant and caused him to pull over on the hard shoulder of the motorway, then proceeded to strike the claimant and place him in a headlock after which the claimant attempted to push the worker out of the car. As a result of the altercation, the Claimant suffered facial injuries and sent a picture of these to his regional manager. The Claimant was dismissed following a hearing as the hearing officer claimed that the Claimant had admitted to stopping on the hard shoulder of the live motorway with the intention to eject his colleague from the vehicle, potentially placing him in imminent danger. The Claimant brought a successful claim for unfair dismissal as the tribunal found that the company had not shown that it genuinely believed that the Claimant was guilty in respect of this aspect of misconduct.

https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions/a-milea-v-dhl-services-ltd-2301944-slash-2022

Finally, our 2023 events program is up and running and we are pleased to host an event with Hays Recruitment, details as below.

Salary Guide in conjunction with Hays Recruitment

Date – Thursday 19^th January 2023

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

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

In the first event of 2023, Chadwick Lawrence will be partnering with Hays Recruitment who will be presenting on their findings of their Salary Guide.

This year the Salary guide is in its 9^th year of publication. It includes insights and tips to help you plan your hiring strategy for the year ahead including:

• The impacts on the rising cost of living on pay
• Are skills shortages going to get worse
• Actions your peers are taking to secure talent
• What matters most to professionals apart from pay

Chadwick Lawrence will then present on what is to come in 2023 in the world of employment law. With the recent Retained EU Law (Revocation and Repeal) Bill, Chadwick Lawrence will cover how the Bill works and their predictions on how the Bill will impact on TUPE, the Working Time Regulations and other employment law topics. The event will then focus on the recent decision of Harper v Brazel. Chadwick Lawrence will discuss the Supreme Court’s decision have made it clear that employers cannot use the 12.07% method to calculate holiday pay.

Focus On – Acclaim Credit Management and Debt Recovery

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 Matt Perry from our Acclaim team has prepared an introduction to Acclaim Credit Management and Debt Recovery detailing the work they do.

Acclaim Credit Management and Debt Recovery