Greaves v First Choice Homes Oldham Ltd

In employment proceedings, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal may determine only points of law arising from the proceedings. They have no general discretion to reopen factual findings. Permission to appeal should be refused where the proposed grounds merely challenge the facts, unless the findings are properly arguable as perverse and therefore disclose an error of law.

The applicant brought claims for unfair dismissal and unlawful deduction of wages after his employer stopped his contractual occupational sick pay and rejected or treated as closed various grievances. The Employment Tribunal rejected both claims. The Employment Appeal Tribunal refused permission to appeal on paper and again after an oral hearing before Her Honour Judge Eady QC. The applicant renewed his application before the Court of Appeal, arguing principally that his complaints had not been dealt with under the employer’s grievance procedure and that relevant matters had been overlooked. The central issue was whether those arguments disclosed an arguable point of law or merely challenged factual findings.

1. Renewed application refused. The Court of Appeal concluded that no point of law arose and that permission to appeal could not be granted.
2. The court’s jurisdiction in this context was confined to points of law arising from the employment proceedings. That limitation was statutory and left no discretion to entertain a factual challenge in the absence of an error of law.
3. The applicant’s arguments about the handling of his grievances, including the letter of 5 March 2013, had been considered by the Employment Tribunal and by Judge Eady. The Court of Appeal rejected the contention that those matters had been ignored.
4. The factual findings had been made by the Employment Tribunal. They could not be revisited merely because the applicant disputed them. The findings were not capable of being characterised as perverse, so no legal error arose.
5. The Employment Tribunal’s conclusions that the contractual conditions for occupational sick pay had not been complied with and that there had been no breach of the implied term of trust and confidence therefore disclosed no arguable ground of appeal.

1. Court of Appeal (Civil Division): renewed application for permission to appeal refused; [2015] EWCA Civ 810.
2. Employment Appeal Tribunal: permission to appeal refused on paper and again following an oral hearing before Her Honour Judge Eady QC; citation not stated in the judgment.
3. Employment Tribunal: claims for unfair dismissal and unlawful deduction of wages rejected; citation not stated in the judgment.