Weekly Issue 458

Tribunal postponements

Following a consultation on amendments to the procedure for seeking a postponement of a tribunal hearing, the government has announced that the parties will be limited to two applications in the same case, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Football breach

According to a decision by the High Court in Farnan v Sunderland Association Football Club Ltd, employees can be summarily dismissed for breach of contract involving the disclosure of confidential information. As a result, the claimant’s complaint of wrongful dismissal and breach of contract could not succeed.

Base test

Section 1(1)(a) of the Pensions Act 2008 defines a “jobholder” as a worker “who is working or ordinarily works in Great Britain under the worker’s contract”. In R (Fleet Maritime Services (Bermuda) Limited) v The Pensions Regulator, the High Court held that the test to establish where a worker “ordinarily works” must focus on where they are based and not on what it says in their contact.