United Kingdom Employment Appeal Tribunal

APPEARANCES

 

For the Appellant	OLIVER HYAMS (OF COUNSEL) INSTRUCTED BY: EVERSHEDS SOLICITORS


 


MR COMMISSIONER HOWELL QC:-

1. Mr Hyams, you have (just) managed to persuade us that there are grounds for letting this case go forward to a full hearing of the Employment Appeal Tribunal to enable you to argue the two principal issues that you identified helpfully for us just at the end of your argument, namely: (1) whether the Tribunal erred in failing to take account of or to record findings on the evidence given by the employees as to what they were told after the letters relating to redundancy had been sent to them in July 1998, insofar as that evidence might have a bearing on the proper construction of those letters and the issue of the effective date of termination of that employment contracts; and (2) whether they erred on the issue of whether it was reasonably practicable for complaints to the Employment Tribunal to be made earlier than they in fact were, in the context in particular of the authority you have shown to us which appears to suggest that if employees are misled by something said to them by an employer that may be a relevant matter to be taken into account on the issue of reasonable practicability under section 111(2)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Bound up with those two issues are the related issues of whether the Tribunal set out the reasons for its decision adequately which to some extent may be another way of putting the same line of argument.
2. On that footing, we direct a full hearing of this appeal before the Employment Appeal Tribunal on the grounds in your Notice of Appeal which appear to raise effectively those two issues. Those appear to us, subject to anything you have to say, to be all the grounds set out in paragraph 6 of your Notice of Appeal on pages 2-7 inclusive, with the exception of sub paragraphs (4), (7) and (8). We direct that those sub-paragraphs should not be included in the issues under the Notice of Appeal to be considered at the full hearing and that for practical purposes square brackets should be put around them.
3. On the footing, that any questions about the content of the evidence will be taken up between the parties in correspondence, we make no direction at this stage for production of any Chairman's notes.
4. Finally we direct in accordance with the usual practice that skeleton arguments should be exchanged between the parties and lodged with the Employment Appeal Tribunal office not later than 14 days before the date fixed for the full hearing of the appeal.