Thornett v Scope [2006] EWCA Civ 1600, [2006] All ER (D) 357 (Nov)
The employment tribunal’s task, when deciding what compensation is just and equitable for future loss of earnings, will almost inevitably involve a consideration of uncertainties.
Any assessment of a future loss, including one that the employment would continue indefinitely, is by way of prediction and inevitably involves a speculative element. There might be cases in which evidence to the contrary is so sparse that a tribunal should approach the question on the basis that the employment would have continued indefinitely, but where there is evidence that it might not have been so, that evidence should be taken into account.
The parties should place before the tribunal the material on which they seek to rely to establish how long the employment would have continued but for the unfair dismissal and the tribunal should scrutinise that evidence carefully.