Employment Appeal Tribunal judgments, 2026

Under section 26(4) of the Equality Act 2010, the tribunal asks whether the claimant actually perceived the conduct as having a proscribed effect and, if so…

Under the Equality Act 2010, a proposed adjustment must be assessed against the particular substantial disadvantage. An adjustment request may inform what the…

For discrimination arising from disability, the employer must know, or reasonably be expected to know, the facts constituting the relevant disability, but need…

Before making an unless order, an Employment Tribunal must assess whether the dismissal it stipulates would be a proportionate consequence of material…

A qualifying disclosure must contain enough factual content and specificity to be capable of tending to show a listed failure, or to be reasonably believed to…

The EAT will generally not entertain an argument that was not advanced before the Employment Tribunal. It may permit a new point only in exceptional…

Assignment for a TUPE transfer is a fact-sensitive question of whether an employee was assigned to the transferring organisational framework on a non-temporary…

A tribunal need not formally dispose of an outstanding reasonable-adjustments application before considering strike-out where the applicant’s non-attendance…

A tribunal assessing compensation for an unappealed finding of failure to make reasonable adjustments may interpret the earlier decision by reasonable…

An employment tribunal may refuse an amendment where it is not sufficiently clear and particularised to permit fair consideration, assessment of…

A Tribunal considering a deposit application arising from refusal of national security clearance must make its own assessment of the discrimination claim. It…

Under the Equality Act 2010, whether conduct is unwanted is assessed from the worker’s subjective response. For harassment by effect, perception is only one…

When deciding whether it is just and equitable to extend time for a discrimination complaint, a tribunal may consider the age of the factual issues that an…

Under section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, a tribunal must identify the employer’s actual factual reason for dismissal, or the principal reason if…

All litigants before the EAT, represented or not, must comply with its Rules and Practice Direction. A litigant using generative AI remains responsible for…

Aggravated damages in discrimination cases are compensatory and may be awarded only where an additional aggravating feature, beyond the injury already…

In deciding whether a conduct dismissal is fair, a tribunal must assess the disciplinary process as a whole, including any appeal. Procedural unfairness may…

Where medical evidence about a disabled party’s impairments is relevant to a tribunal’s procedural discretion, the tribunal must consider its bearing on past…

A perversity appeal succeeds only where an overwhelming case shows that no reasonable tribunal, properly appreciating the evidence and law, could have reached…

Extending time for a late EAT appeal requires a fact-sensitive assessment of the explanation for default, whether it amounts to a good excuse and, if not…

Under section 15 of the Equality Act 2010, an employer’s explanation must identify a reason that was operative when the unfavourable treatment occurred. A…

Under the Equality Act 2010, market-rate pay differences are neither automatically justified nor automatically discriminatory. A tribunal may find particular…

For ordinary unfair dismissal, the Tribunal must identify the facts or beliefs that caused the employer to dismiss and, where several matters operated…

Where claims raise common or related issues of fact or law, an Employment Tribunal may allow them to be defended in a single response form under Rule 16(3)…

A Certification Officer may strike out a complaint about the meaning of union rules only where the wording and relevant context leave no reasonably arguable…

Before striking out a claim for the way proceedings were conducted, a tribunal must give the party a reasonable opportunity to make representations. Whether…

For interim relief in a protected-disclosure dismissal claim, Employment Rights Act 1996, section 129(1), requires a claimant to show a pretty good chance of…

The EAT’s discretion to extend time for an appeal is strict but not inflexible. It must weigh the explanation for default, whether it is an acceptable excuse…

Rule 64 permits an employment tribunal to make a consent order on terms agreed in writing at any time during a claim, or orally at a hearing. An unenforceable…

In a misconduct dismissal case, an Employment Tribunal reviews whether the employer’s belief and investigation were reasonable. It must not decide the alleged…

A political, single-issue or research-informed belief may qualify as a philosophical belief if it meets the modest statutory threshold; those features alone do…

The duty to make reasonable adjustments rests on an employer or principal, but that does not categorically bar a claim against an employee. Under the Equality…

An employment tribunal deciding direct discrimination need not always construct a hypothetical comparator or decide less favourable treatment as a separate…

Under Equality Act 2010, consent is relevant, but not conclusive, to whether sexual conduct is unwanted and to the statutory assessment of its effect.…

An appellant who wishes to adopt arguable errors identified in an EAT rule 3(7) determination should generally apply promptly to amend the grounds. Amendment…

A party who makes a timely request under rule 62(3) of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013 for written reasons following an oral decision is…

A tribunal must identify the information actually conveyed in a whistleblowing disclosure. It may consider closely related passages in the same report and…

An Employment Tribunal is not generally required to raise Convention rights of its own motion in an unfair dismissal claim. It may err by failing to address an…

An Employment Tribunal errs in law by striking out a direct discrimination claim about the retraction or lapse of a job offer without considering whether an…

An employment tribunal must determine the claims in an ET1 by objectively reading the statement of case as a whole and in context. It need not reconstruct a…

Apparent bias is assessed by asking whether a fair-minded and informed observer, considering all relevant circumstances, would see a real possibility of bias.…

When assessing costs, a tribunal may consider third-party resources only to the extent they affect the paying party’s own ability to pay. It must examine…

The statutory right to be accompanied at a disciplinary or grievance hearing depends on both the worker being required or invited to attend and making a…

A tribunal should not strike out a discrimination claim as having no reasonable prospect merely because the alleged acts involved different people or lacked…

A tribunal deciding a constructive dismissal claim based on a course of conduct must consider the employer’s conduct cumulatively against the implied term of…

Liability under section 145B of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 requires an offer to a union member, a prohibited result and the…

For discrimination arising from disability under the Equality Act 2010, the tribunal must identify what caused the unfavourable treatment and ask whether that…

Under section 98(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, fairness in a conduct dismissal is assessed against the range of reasonable responses, including the…

When reviewing refusal of an amendment, the EAT may intervene where the tribunal mischaracterises the proposed change and assesses prejudice without sufficient…

An employment tribunal assessing a preparation time order must determine a reasonable and proportionate number of hours and multiply that figure by the…

When compensation is reconsidered because payment of an award will affect a claimant’s Universal Credit, the tribunal must assess mitigation more widely and…

A wasted costs order requires findings that a representative acted improperly, unreasonably or negligently, that the conduct caused unnecessary costs, and that…

For a case listed before 29 October 2024, panel composition may be reviewed where a material change in circumstances permits it. Where panel members were not…

Whether conduct amounts to participation in trade union activities under Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, section 152, is a…

For victimisation, the tribunal must identify the specific act relied on and assess whether it was done for the purposes of or in connection with the Equality…

In direct discrimination claims, a tribunal must apply the two-stage burden of proof in Equality Act 2010, section 136, unless it makes positive findings about…

A tribunal may decide a strike-out application by reference to a final, definitive list of issues where the claimant has clarified and agreed the claims after…

For discrimination arising from disability and reasonable-adjustments claims, an employer must assess knowledge by reference to the facts constituting…

Employment Tribunal pleadings must be read fairly and in their full context. A claim may be apparent from the pleaded facts even where it is expressed…

An extension of time for an Employment Appeal Tribunal appeal is exceptional. The applicant must provide a full and honest explanation, show a good excuse for…

Whether conduct amounts to gross misconduct justifying summary dismissal requires an objective assessment of all relevant circumstances. Pressure or duress…

Compensation for unlawful discrimination is assessed on tortious principles. Loss must flow directly and naturally from the discriminatory act, but reasonable…

An Employment Tribunal considering an application to extend time for presenting a response must assess all relevant circumstances under the overriding…

An Employment Tribunal has a discretionary power to make a witness order. The applicant must show that the proposed witness can apparently give relevant…

When identifying complaints at a case-management hearing, an Employment Tribunal must distinguish clarification of existing pleadings from the introduction of…

An Employment Tribunal does not err in law by finding that conduct arising in a trade union context was objectively separable from protected trade union…

For an unlawful deduction claim, a bonus is wages properly payable once the worker has a legal entitlement to it. The entitlement may arise before the amount…

For an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, failure to provide the judgment and reasons is not ordinarily a minor error where those documents are required…

For direct discrimination based on a manifestation of belief, the conduct must be intimately linked to the protected belief. A normative belief about how…

An appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal must identify a concise and arguable error of law. Grounds that merely challenge findings of fact, re-argue the…

When assessing contributory conduct, an Employment Tribunal must distinguish the basic award from the compensatory award. Conduct before dismissal may be…

Under regulation 3(2) of the Fixed-Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, less favourable treatment concerning the…

Time limits in the Employment Appeal Tribunal remain important, but state immunity cases engage an exceptional consideration. Where an appeal raises a…

Where claims are automatically struck out for non-payment of deposit orders, the Employment Tribunal need not consider general relief-from-sanctions factors if…

An Employment Tribunal must address the mandatory stages of an application for reconsideration. It must decide whether the application is in time and, if not…

The requirement to be given an itemised pay statement under section 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 does not require physical delivery. Electronic…

Section 47 of the Equality Act 2010 is a jurisdictional gateway which extends the Act’s protection to self-employed barristers. It does not create separate…

In a direct discrimination claim, an Employment Tribunal must identify the alleged discriminatory act and the person said to have done it. It must then decide…

Under rule 37(1)(d), an employment tribunal must first determine whether a claim has not been actively pursued and then exercise its discretion in all the…

At a Rule 3(10) hearing, a respondent has no general right to make submissions. The hearing is a short assessment of whether grounds rejected at the sift stage…

A qualifications body applies a competence standard when it requires a candidate to achieve the stated standard, even if it wrongly administers the process for…

An appeal from an Employment Tribunal case-management order requires the written record of the order; written reasons are required only if available. The…

The strict approach to extending time for instituting an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal does not govern a late respondent’s answer. A late answer…

An Employment Tribunal determines time-limit issues on the case advanced in the pleadings, evidence and submissions. It is not required, and would be wrong, to…

Section 111A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 protects pre-termination negotiations only in proceedings for ordinary unfair dismissal. Where mixed claims are…

Compensation for discrimination must restore the claimant’s net position but for the unlawful conduct. A state benefit received solely because of injury caused…

An application to extend time for a request for a rule 3(10) hearing requires a judicial and fact-sensitive assessment. The applicant must provide an…

Where an ET1 and early-conciliation certificate record different names because the claimant changed name between them, the tribunal must consider the exception…

In deciding why an employer imposed alleged detriments, an Employment Tribunal may assess the credibility and reliability of the evidence and may determine…

An Employment Tribunal may exclude a proposed issue where it is an attempt to reopen factual findings that were necessary to an earlier preliminary…

Counsel appointed by the chair of a public inquiry is not the holder of a public office under section 50(2) of the Equality Act 2010 unless the appointment is…

Where contractual documents direct a defined group of employees to a separate handbook for details of overtime payments, the natural construction may exclude…

In employment proceedings, Investigatory Powers Act 2016 section 56(1)(b) must, so far as possible, be read compatibly with fair-trial rights. It applies where…

A Henderson v Henderson abuse allegation requires a broad, merits-based assessment of all the circumstances. It does not follow merely because a matter could…

Under rule 37(1)(e), whether a claim can still be fairly tried is a fact-sensitive evaluative judgment. A tribunal must consider practical measures that could…

For a claim under section 15 of the Equality Act 2010, a tribunal must distinguish between the employer’s subjective reason for the unfavourable treatment and…

In assessing compensation for unlawful discrimination, an employment tribunal must construct the counterfactual in which none of the discriminatory wrongs…

An employment tribunal must determine claims which emerge from a fair and objective reading of the statements of case. It has no general duty to identify and…

A tribunal must take account of any relevant provision of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, section 207, but it need not expressly…

A teacher formerly paid at the highest point of the abolished post-threshold scale has no automatic contractual right to the maximum of the successor upper pay…

An appeal alleging perversity succeeds only where an overwhelming case shows that no reasonable employment tribunal, properly applying the evidence and law…

An Employment Tribunal determining interim relief for an alleged protected-disclosure dismissal must make an expeditious, summary assessment of whether the…

An Employment Tribunal considering a reconsideration application must follow the mandatory two-stage process in rule 72 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of…

An Employment Tribunal must exercise case-management discretion by reference to the arguments and evidence before it, the actual effect of the proposed order…

Under Rule 33, an EAT review is exceptional and cannot be used to re-argue a case or correct an error of law properly raised on appeal. However, the interests…

Under section 33 of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996, a restriction of proceedings order may be made where a person has habitually and persistently, and…

For justification under section 19 of the Equality Act 2010, the tribunal must balance the employer’s real needs against the discriminatory effect of the PCP…

An Employment Tribunal reconsideration application must follow the mandatory sequence in rule 70 of the Employment Tribunal Rules 2024. At the initial sift…

For a disclosure to qualify under section 43B of the Employment Rights Act 1996, a tribunal must first determine the worker’s actual belief that the disclosure…

In a victimisation claim, the question is whether a protected act was an effective cause of the detriment. Where an employer relies on a breakdown in working…

In a direct religion or belief discrimination claim, a tribunal must identify each effective reason for the impugned treatment and analyse it separately. A…

Under section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, fairness requires assessment of the whole dismissal process, including any internal appeal. A failure to…

An employment contract cannot be transferred from one employer to another at common law merely because the original employer relinquishes practical control and…

In a conduct dismissal, the tribunal must identify the employer’s actual reason, or principal reason, for dismissal. It must not substitute a reason which the…

An employment tribunal must assess allegations of direct discrimination by reference to the evidence and the way the case is advanced as a whole. It may treat…

The burden-of-proof inquiry under section 136 of the Equality Act 2010 is fact-sensitive. It must not be resolved by mechanically applying a general rule about…

A person may fall within the protection for part-time workers where, viewed as a whole, the relationship is not substantially different from an employment…

Rule 76 of the Employment Tribunal Rules 2013 imposes a two-stage process. The tribunal must first decide whether a threshold in rule 76(1) is met. It must…

An employment tribunal must identify a party’s case by an objective reading of its statements of case. It may clarify and refine claims already advanced…

An Employment Tribunal may prefer one witness’s evidence to another’s after assessing the evidence as a whole. It must not apply an inflexible rule which…

An Employment Appeal Tribunal should normally follow a prior EAT decision on the same point of law. The convention applies in state-immunity cases. It may be…

An Employment Tribunal determining whether communications are protected disclosures must assess the statutory elements with sufficient clarity to show which…

An Employment Tribunal must determine claims which emerge clearly from an objective analysis of the parties’ statements of case. It does not have a general…

For Employment Rights Act 1996, section 44(1)(a), an employee is not designated to undertake health and safety activities merely because ordinary duties…

A contract worker cannot use section 41 of the Equality Act 2010 to complain against a principal about pay fixed under the worker’s contract with the supplier.…

For capability dismissals, the relevant work is ordinarily the work which the employee is contractually employed to perform. A progression-based requirement to…

When strike-out is sought because a witness under oath discussed the case, the tribunal should ordinarily ascertain what was discussed. The content is…

When exercising the discretion under section 123(1)(b) of the Equality Act 2010, an employment tribunal must assess all factors relevant to whether an…

For discrimination arising from disability, the question is whether the unfavourable treatment was because of something arising in consequence of disability.…

An Employment Tribunal must apply the repudiatory-breach test, and give adequate reasons for its application, to each alleged breach of the implied term of…

A COT3 agreement is construed objectively as a contract. The court must read its terms as a whole, in their factual and commercial context, but the precise…

In a misconduct dismissal, fairness remains governed by Employment Rights Act 1996, section 98. The tribunal must assess the process as a whole, including any…

An Employment Appeal Tribunal costs application requires a two-stage inquiry. The tribunal must first find conduct within the threshold in rule 34A, including…

Under section 136 of the Equality Act 2010, the tribunal must decide at the first stage whether the facts found could reasonably support the particular…

A purported withdrawal of an Employment Tribunal claim is effective only if the claimant’s communication, read fairly in its full context, is clear…

An Employment Appeal Tribunal costs order under rule 34A requires a two-stage decision. The Tribunal must first find that proceedings were unnecessary…

The Employment Appeal Tribunal's power to extend time under rule 37 is a broad discretion. It must be exercised on the particular facts, without treating…

An employment tribunal may assess the forensic effect of delay by making an evaluative assessment of the quality and reliability of oral evidence. It need not…