Employment Tribunal incorrectly assessed the compensation due in prison officer’s claim
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has found that an Employment Tribunal took the wrong approach when assessing the amount due to a successful claimant. The Tribunal had taken a speculative approach when determining the claimant’s capacity for work and the employer’s response to her absence when such speculation was neither permitted nor necessary.
The claimant, Miss Baverstock, was a former employee of the Prison Service who had brought claims of disability discrimination and unfair dismissal relating to the ending of her employment. She was successful in the Employment Tribunal and was awarded compensation of £67,120.75. Her employer appealed both the Tribunal’s judgment and the size of the award against it.
The EAT found that the Employment Tribunal had decided the claims correctly. However, the Tribunal had erred in the basis on which it had calculated the amount of compensation due to Miss Baverstock, particularly in relation to past loss, future loss and pension loss.
The EAT decided that such speculation was unnecessary. The Tribunal should instead have given the employer the opportunity to present evidence first on its sick pay policy and then on whether it might have dismissed Miss Baverstock due to her long-term incapacity.
The EAT also found that the Tribunal had taken an incorrect approach when assessing future loss. The Tribunal had decided, without the benefit of any up-to-date medical evidence, that Miss Baverstock would be unable to work for six months.
The Tribunal had also found that Miss Baverstock would have continued in full employment for a further four years, despite her work history suggesting that such a finding was optimistic.
Given the errors made in the Tribunal’s handling of past and future losses, the EAT decided that pension loss should also be reconsidered. The case was remitted to the same Employment Tribunal for compensation to be reassessed.
CASE The Secretary of State for Justice v Baverstock, Employment Appeal Tribunal, 10 June 2015