The claimant held a temporary PA post with the respondent Council and went on her first period of maternity leave in November 2012 and returned to work in August 2013. She argued that the refusal to allow her to return to her original post was tainted by illegality as it was connected to her returning to work. She also argued that a recruitment process to fill the post was unjustified and her tenure should simply have been extended.

The tribunal rejected this argument, and agreed with the respondent that there was restructuring of internal posts particularly in light of the upcoming Local Government Reform that took place in March 2015. The claimant had originally been recruited in an internal trawl but the tribunal recognised that the Council was adhering to a new policy in force that required the post going to a wider trawl. The decisions to not allow her to return to her original role and also to advertise to fill the post were not tainted and the claim was dismissed.

Practical Lessons

Whilst the claimant may have had felt that she had genuine grievances, none of them had any solid legal basis. The tribunal was noticeably cognisant of the restructuring that was taking place within the Council in the build up to the Local Government Reform and accepted that decisions in relation to posts were taken for logistical reasons. For example, the recruitment exercise to fill the claimant’s previous role was originally intended to begin in April 2013 yet only commenced in September 2013, which was shortly after the claimant returned to work. Whilst the claimant may have viewed this as coincidental, the respondent was able to produce justifiable reasons for its decision in light of uncertainty over staffing numbers due to the imminent Local Government Reform.

This case review was written by John Taggart BL. NI Tribunal decisions are available on the OITFET website:
http://www.employmenttribunalsni.co.uk/