SETTLEMENT
Personal injury claim excluded
Case Farnham-Oliver v RM Educational Resources Ltd [2021] EWHC 2418
Facts F was employed by R Ltd as a customer advisor. He suffered from a number of physical and mobility problems. He complained to the ET of a number of issues, including suffering from work-related stress because of workplace conditions.
F and R Ltd reached a settlement agreement expressed in an ACAS COT3 form. Clause 7 of the agreement stated that the claimant was not prevented from pursuing his potential claim for damages arising from a personal injury allegedly suffered as a result of work-related stress.
Five years after the date of the agreement, F lodged a claim for compensation for personal injury. R Ltd applied to strike out the claim on the basis that it was duplicative litigation and an abuse of process.
Decision 1. The application to strike out failed.
2. R Ltd had not required the personal injury claim to be included in the settlement agreement but had allowed it to be specifically excepted and thus accepted that it was not part of the tribunal claim. At first sight R Ltd was prepared to take the risk that the civil claim would be brought.
UNLAWFUL DEDUCTION FROM WAGES
“Bank” worker
Pay during suspension
Case Agbaze v Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust EA-2020-000413-VP
Facts A, a healthcare worker, supplied his services as a “bank” worker. The employer was not obliged to offer him work and he was not obliged to accept work. He was suspended by the employer for a number of months during a misconduct investigation and he was regarded as not being eligible for work. A complained of unlawful deduction from wages on the basis that there was an implied term in his contract that he would be paid average wages during suspension. The ET rejected the claim. A appealed to the EAT.
Decision 1. The appeal was dismissed.
2. The employer had been contractually obliged to pay A in respect of work which had been offered and accepted.