Previously, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) tended to return decision-making to the tribunal. ‘In recent years,’ Smith writes in his latest employment law brief, ‘the pendulum has tended to swing at least part-way back and the modern EAT judiciary are more willing to try to help the ETs out, albeit sometimes prefaced with the mantra that this is only guidance.’
Smith covers a case where an employee’s contract was terminated by mutual agreement following unusually long sick leave. Whether this really was a mutual agreement was tested by the tribunal.
He covers a case where the parties struggled to establish the start-date for a time limit where the case concerned an omission to do something rather than a positive act. Thirdly, he highlights a case where the judge gave guidance on the writing of employment tribunal judgments and the approach the EAT should take to considering them on appeal.
