A key case in personal injury law, Simmons -v- Castle (2013) was thought to apply in employment cases until a recent decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. There has been a significant change to the way that "no win - no fee" cases operate in personal injury law and success fees and after the event premiums are no longer recoverable. So in the Simmons -v- Castle case it was decided that damages should be increased by 10% from previous guideline figures. It was widely thought that 10% uplift applied in employment cases to the award for damage\injury to feeling. However in the recent case of Chawla -v- Hewlett Packard Limited it was pointed out that the reason for the 10% uplift was the change in the existing cost regime. Employment Tribunal claims have not been funded in the same way. The reason for the uplift therefore does not apply. Therefore there is no uplift to the injury to feelings award for the "Simmons -v- Castle" reasons. The case which was one of disability discrimination is also of interest to discrimination lawyers because of the observations on the Employer's practice of shutting down access to email and internet for Employees on long term sickness.
This substantially disadvantaged the claimant in the case. For further information please contact [email protected]
