Weekly Issue 225

News in brief

The equalities minister, Lynne Featherstone, finally laid the draft Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 before parliament last week.

Fair score

When scoring employees for potential redundancies, employers should adopt fair selection criteria and follow a fair procedure. In Dabson v David Cover & Sons Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) confirmed that when considering the fairness of someone’s selection for redundancy, Tribunals cannot rescore claimants unless it can identify an obvious mistake or a lapse of good faith on the part of the employer.

Immigration status

In claims of unfair dismissal, Tribunals have to decide, among other things, if dismissal was within the range of reasonable responses open to the employer. In Kurumuth v NHS Trust North Middlesex University Hospital, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) said that it was reasonable for the hospital to sack an employee whose immigration status was unclear.