In his latest Coffee Break Briefing webinar, Frettens’ own Insolvency Guru Malcolm Niekirk looked at dealing with solvent liquidations with no tax clearance.
This is the summary of that briefing.
Monmouthshire County Council v Harris
In this case, the Claimant was disabled and worked partly at home. The claimant was signed off sick and was subsequently dismissed after a period of absence. The employment tribunal held that the Claimant had been unfairly dismissed and that the dismissal was an act of discrimination arising from a disability. The Respondent appealed the decision. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) upheld the Respondent’s appeal and criticised the employment tribunal for omitting, on the unfair dismissal point, to consider the key question of whether the employer could reasonably be expected to wait longer before deciding to dismiss the Claimant. The EAT also criticised the employment tribunal’s decision on discrimination arising from a disability, as they had neglected to consider proportionality.
In Practice
"This case highlights how important it is for employers to carry out a full evaluation to assess whether it is reasonable, in all of the circumstances, to dismiss an employee with long term absence especially where they may be a disability involved," says Employment Associate Paul Burton.
Our Employment Team, based in Christchurch, also cover Bournemouth, Poole and the New Forest. For a free initial chat, please call 01202 499255 and Paul or a member of the team will be happy to discuss any questions that you may have.
