Acas Early Conciliation 5 February 2016
Does an error in the identification of a Respondent in an Acas early conciliation certificate prevent the employment tribunal from accepting a claim?
No, held the EAT in Mist v Derby Community NHS Trust .
The first Respondent was named correctly in the Claimant's ET1, but incorrectly on the Acas EC certificate. The second Respondent, which was joined at a later date, challenged the Claimant's compliance with the EC provisions. HHJ Eady QC rejected the second Respondent's arguments in relation to the EC provisions: 1) s18A ETA 1996 requires a Claimant to provide prescribed information to Acas. This includes the prospective Respondent's name, but not its full legal title. If relevant information is absent Acas may reject the notification or contact the Claimant to obtain any missing information. In this case Acas did not reject the notification and the employment tribunal was entitled to treat the EC certificate as conclusive in terms of the Claimant's compliance with s18A.
2) rule 12(2A) of the ET Rules 2013 provides that an Employment Judge can decide that a claim should not be rejected where there is a difference between the Respondent's details in the ET1 and the EC certificate.
3) as for the application to join the second Respondent, this fell to be considered as a possible amendment to an existing claim and did not require a further EC notification.
With thanks to Daniel Barnett’s employment law bulletin for providing the details of the case.
Devolution of Scottish employment tribunals 18 February 2016
A consultation has been published which seeks views on a draft Order in Council that makes provision for the transfer of specified functions of the Employment Tribunals to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland.
The Smith Commission recommended that all powers over the management and operation of all reserved tribunals (which includes administrative, judicial and legislative powers) be devolved to the Scottish Parliament other than the Special Immigration Appeals Commission and the Proscribed Organisations Appeals Commission. The Scotland Bill is currently making its way through the Parliamentary process and will implement the recommendations from The Smith Commission. Clause 37 of the Bill devolves the management and operation of reserved tribunals to the Scottish Parliament and the consultation makes provision to transfer specified functions of the Employment Tribunal to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland. The proposed transfer of functions would allow the First-tier Tribunal to hear Scottish employment cases (as defined in the draft Order), along with a number of cases that do not fit within that category but which have a sufficient link to Scotland and should therefore be heard in a Scottish tribunal.
The consultation closes on 24 Mar 2016.
Starbucks employee wins dyslexia discrimination case 22 February 2016
A woman with dyslexia has won a disability discrimination case against her employer Starbucks after she was accused of falsifying documents.
BBC News reported that a tribunal found Meseret Kumulchew had been discriminated against after making mistakes due to her difficulties with reading, writing and telling the time. She was given lesser duties at her branch in London and told to retrain, which left her feeling suicidal.
Starbucks said it was in discussions about providing more workplace support.
CIPP Policy News Journal
25/04/2016, Page 82 of 453
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