United Kingdom Employment Appeal Tribunal

APPEARANCES

 

For the Appellant	MR DAMIAN BROWN (Of Counsel) Instructed by: Union of Shop Distributive and Allied Workers 188 Wilmslow Road Fallowfield Manchester M14 6LJ


 


MR RECORDER LANGSTAFF QC

1. In this case, which is an Appeal from the Employment Tribunal sitting at Leeds whose reasons were promulgated on 10 January 2001, it is argued by Mr Brown (who appeared for the Appellant) that the Tribunal recognised in the last two sentences in paragraph 14 of that decision that the Employer had fettered any discretion it might have had to consider whether or not it was fair and reasonable to dismiss this particular employee. Indeed there may be some indication that they thought that continued employment was reasonable because the employer appeared to be prepared to offer it.
2. We think that this raises the interesting and perhaps difficult question whether an employer, who has a settled policy operated without exception in the best interests of the business, nonetheless should at least consider on each and every occasion the policy comes to be applied to an employee whether it should be applied without regard to all the other circumstances.
3. The Employment Tribunal, in looking at the circumstances of the case focussed, it seems, upon the Respondent's application of its own policy. We think that it is arguable that the Employment Tribunal in doing so may not have applied the statutory test in Section 98 as they were required to do.
4. We give no indication as to prospects of success that we have been persuaded by the skeleton argument of Mr Brown that it should be argued.
5. The Appeal should be listed in Category B. It should take, we think, no more than two hours, being a very short and discrete point, but one upon which some law may bear. We would ask the skeletons be exchanged and filed no less than seven days prior to the hearing together with copies of any authorities, which are to be relied upon.