Ian Smith considers the latest employment law developments
There can be a tendency for employers conducting a disciplinary hearing to think that, once it has been regularly convened, they can then reach any result that they think reasonable and/or necessary. The first case reported this month shows that that will not always be the case and that an employer must still be alive to what is and is not within its powers. The other four cases come into two groups, concerning well-worn issues of the status of directors/shareholders and the validity of restraint of trade clauses.
Higher penalty possible on appeal?
Years ago, the then Lord Chief Justice Lord Goddard evolved what many exasperated practitioners might still see as a rather neat way to deal with unmeritorious criminal appeals—if you appealed against a sentence of three years and failed, you might well be sent away with six. If memory serves, this had to be stopped by legislation. Can such a result occur now in employment law in a misconduct case? The decision of the Court of Appeal in McMillan v Airedale NHS Foundation
