Tuesday 30 December 2008

Employment Law in Inverness

Rather than think that I had insulted my clerks at some point in order to have been sent so far as Inverness for a tribunal I grasped the Opportunity with both hands. On arrival the snow capped mountains welcomed me.

I was representing a large charity who were facing complaints that a manager had bullied and employee and forced her to work in the home of a dangerous 'patient/client'. Prior to the trip I had not had any dealings with Scottish law and my conclusions are as follow:

They are half right in their approach:

Witnesses must give evidence separately to avoid collusion a practice tribunals in England and Wales generally do not follow (although they have the power). This can only be a good thing. Yet tribunals entertain the strange practice of not employing witness statements. This cannot be a good thing as in my humble opinion if the witness deviates from a sworn statement it can demonstrate inconsistency and thus unreliability or the converse.

One other thing you may expect if you end up near the river Ness is a lot of attention. Our case commanded the attention of all the local press and even camera men running after us in the street a very odd feeling!