October 2021 employment law newsletter out now

Welcome to October's Employment law newsletter

October rewards 3PB with four new fee-paid, part-time Employment Tribunal Judges as well as a record number of rankings for our team in the Legal 500 2022.

Case law analysis is provided by
- Andrew MacPhail on redundancy process best practices in Gwynedd Council v S Barratt & I Hughes [2021] EWCA Civ 1322;
- Katherine Anderson on proportionality assessment with The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of The University of Oxford v Professor Paul Ewart EA-2020-000128-RN;
- Stephen Wyeth on litigation privilege 

in Abbeyfield (Maidenhead) Society v Hart UKEAT/0016/21; and
- Colin McDevitt on Kong v Gulf International Bank (UK) Limited EA-2020-000357-JOJ and the rare nature of the Jhuti exception in protected disclosure cases.

Legal 500 2022: another record number of rankings for 3PB’s employment law team

We are delighted to announce another strong performance of our employment and discrimination law team in the Legal 500 2022 edition published last week. With 11 of our 23 juniors now ranked in the directory, the team has attracted a total of 18 individual rankings. We thank our clients and referees for acknowledging our skills, capabilities and service.

Four 3PB barristers appointed part-time employment judges

3PB is delighted to announce that four of its members Matthew Curtis, Joseph England, Tom Horder and Thomas Talbot-Ponsonby have all been appointed as fee-paid, part-time Employment Tribunal Judges in England and Wales. All barristers will continue to maintain their busy practices.

These barristers join Stephen Wyeth who

has sat as a fee-paid (part-time) Employment Tribunal Judge for a number of years and Mathew Gullick QC who sits as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

Protected disclosures: does Kong slam the door in the face of aggrieved claimants?

Colin McDevitt analyses Kong v Gulf International Bank (UK) Limited EA-2020-000357-JOJ, a case which emphasises the rare nature of the Jhuti exception when considering an invented reason for an automatically unfair dismissal following the making of a protected disclosure.

Litigation privilege and the iniquity principle

Stephen Wyeth reviews Abbeyfield (Maidenhead) Society v Hart UKEAT/0016/21, a case which provides a useful indication of the high threshold that must be overcome to set aside the important and cherished principle that communications between advisers about contemplated litigation should remain confidential.

Two differently constituted tribunals reached different conclusions on the same compulsory retirement policy – but neither made an error of law

Katherine Anderson analyses The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of The University of Oxford v Professor Paul Ewart EA-2020-000128-RN, which highlights that proportionality assessment means it is possible for different ETs to reach different conclusions when considering the same measure adopted by the same employer in respect of the same aims.

Should you offer an opportunity to appeal against redundancy, even if you think providing such an opportunity would be futile?

Andrew MacPhail analyses the CoA's decision in Gwynedd Council v S Barratt & I Hughes [2021] EWCA Civ 1322, which provides a reminder to employers to take particular care before declining to follow best practice on key matters such as consultation on redundancy and the provision of an appeal process, even if it considers
that such steps would be futile.

Meet the team

3PB’s employment law group offers expert advisory and advocacy services to private and public sector employers across all areas of employment law including unfair dismissal, discrimination, equal pay, industrial disputes, executive contracts, wrongful dismissals, restrictive covenants, whistleblowing, TUPE, injunctions, pensions disputes and disciplinary proceedings.