Eastbourne Borough Council v. Hafez

EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL 58 VICTORIA EMBANKMENT, LONDON EC4Y 0DS At the Tribunal On 15 October 2004 Judgment delivered on 5 November 2003 Before

Bias. Chairman's provisional indication on the case plus lengthy examination of a witness by the lay member held not to amount to bias.

The Tribunal had indicated that in their view, in the light of the parties' agreement that the duty to make reasonable adjustments had arisen between 24 September and 31 December 2001, that the employers had not taken proper steps between that time and that the employee had been "pushed into a corner to accept ill-health retirement". The Tribunal rejected the suggestion made by the Respondent's Counsel in opening that a figure of �8,000 was a suitable level of award for injury to feelings and had suggested an alternative in the band �3,000 - �5,000.

He later went on to say that following Counsel's intervention he asked him whether he wished to make a formal complaint about it, but he did not make one. Mr Kelly himself confirmed that one of the reasons for the length of time taken was that:

He further complains that even if it was an issue in the case, the Tribunal having identified it as an issue at the beginning of the case in the following terms "once the dismissal as a result of the disability", they failed to make findings on that issue in their conclusions, although the Tribunal made reference to their finding that the illness was caused by the treatment of his managers.