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Right to companion
Toal & Anor v GB Oils Ltd [2013] EAT 0569/12
Section 10 Employment Relations Act 1999 entitles a worker to be accompanied at a disciplinary or grievance hearing; the compensation for breach of this right is an award not exceeding two weeks' pay. In a case where an employer refused to allow the worker to be an accompanied by an elected trade union official, but allowed the worker to be represented by someone who was a fellow worker, before allowing him to be represented by an official of his choice at a second meeting, the EAT has found that the discretion to choose a representative must belong to the worker and not to the employer (save that the employer can refuse a request to be accompanied by a person who is outside the statutory scheme - i.e. a person who is neither a fellow worker nor a trade union representative). The Employment Tribunal at first instance had found that the worker had waved his statutory right to a companion by attending at a second hearing accompanied. The Employment Appeal Tribunal disagreed, finding that in law a worker and an employee cannot agree to waive statutory protection. For the full text of the judgment, click here.
Toal & Anor v GB Oils Ltd [2013] EAT 0569/12
Section 10 Employment Relations Act 1999 entitles a worker to be accompanied at a disciplinary or grievance hearing; the compensation for breach of this right is an award not exceeding two weeks' pay. In a case where an employer refused to allow the worker to be an accompanied by an elected trade union official, but allowed the worker to be represented by someone who was a fellow worker, before allowing him to be represented by an official of his choice at a second meeting, the EAT has found that the discretion to choose a representative must belong to the worker and not to the employer (save that the employer can refuse a request to be accompanied by a person who is outside the statutory scheme - i.e. a person who is neither a fellow worker nor a trade union representative). The Employment Tribunal at first instance had found that the worker had waved his statutory right to a companion by attending at a second hearing accompanied. The Employment Appeal Tribunal disagreed, finding that in law a worker and an employee cannot agree to waive statutory protection. For the full text of the judgment, click here.
