At first glance this might not seem the most exciting topic, but bear with me as the recently reported Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) case of Daleside Nursing Home v Mrs Mathews has thrown up a very interesting point about when costs might be awarded against the losing party before an Employment Tribunal (ET).
The usual rule is that ETs don’t award costs against the losing party, unlike in the High or County Court where that is the starting point (although even in those venues this rule is subject to several caveats but that is another story). ETs have the power to award costs, it is just that they don’t do it very often. The Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2004 provide that power. In particular Regulations 38 – 48 set out the costs regime.
I was watching “The Trouble with Working Women” on BBC2 last night. The newsreader Sophie Raworth and a bloke called Justin investigated why women don’t earn as much as men in the workplace. I don’t think it gave any precise answer as to why it occurs; it merely highlighted that the Equal Pay Act 1970 has done little, or nothing, to reduce the gender pay gap.
According to the statistics they presented, if I heard it properly whilst burning the supper, women in the City get paid 60% less than men. 60%! If this is correct it is incredible. I can fully accept that a pay gap exists between the sexes and that discrimination still occurs but the amount seems amazing.
I’ve written before about the National Staff Dismissal Register (NSDR) in the Retail Sector and the blacklist published by The Consulting Association (TCA) in the construction industry. The former is a joint venture between Action Against Business Crime (a consortium formed between leading retailers and the Home Office), the latter a database compiled by a private company that then sold details to about 40 leading construction companies. News comes this week that the government is planning to introduce regulations to proscribe blacklists used by companies to identify Trade Union members and thus not employ them. The TCA blacklist appears to have identified trade union members as trouble – e.g “ex shop steward definite problems” and similar. The government thinks, rightly, that potential employees should not be discriminated against because of their Trade Union membership.
Apologies for the recent silence. Last week I took Mrs J. and the Junior Jobsworths to Southwold, Suffolk, for a brief holiday. I had every good intention of posting whilst away but couldn’t get WiFi access. I have to admit that I didn’t try that hard either.
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