Thomas Cordrey successfully represents Camelot plc in Scottish EAT case giving guidance on redundancy dismissals
In Camelot Group plc v Mrs S A Hogg (UKEATS/0019/10) the Scottish Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) overturned a finding of unfair dismissal and dealt with a gap in the law on individual redundancy consultation. Thomas Cordrey, instructed by David Pendry of Camelot plc, acted for the National Lottery operator.
The EAT held that the Employment Tribunal had been wrong to say “whenever an employee who is at risk of redundancy makes any request for information [upon which the redundancy selection is based], an ensuing dismissal will be unfair if that request has not been acceded to”. The appeal court criticised fishing exercises by employees during a redundancy selection process and rejected the notion of a duty to provide information where an employee makes “broad unspecific challenge[s]” to the fairness of their selection.
The judgment will be welcomed by employers who have lacked judicial guidance on the level of information (other than selection scores) that they are obliged to provide to employees during a redundancy consultation procedure. Lady Smith also concluded in the case that it had been a breach of natural justice for the Tribunal to allow the claimant to rely on a claim of procedural unfair dismissal when the claim form had asserted the dismissal was unfair for non-procedural reasons.
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