Appeal No. EAT/1302/00

EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL
58 VICTORIA EMBANKMENT, LONDON EC4Y 0DS

	At the Tribunal
	On 16 March 2001

Before
MR RECORDER LANGSTAFF QC
MR D NORMAN
MRS R A VICKERS

MRS J K BRADBURY	APPELLANT

MR M WRIGHT t/a WRIGHTS OF HATFIELD	RESPONDENT

Transcript of Proceedings

JUDGMENT

PRELIMINARY HEARING

Revised

	APPEARANCES

For the Appellant	MR PETER CARR
Representative
6 West Road
Sawbridgeworth
Hertfordshire
CM21 OBJ	

MR RECORDER LANGSTAFF QC

1.	The present case comes before us by way of Preliminary Hearing on an Appeal from the Employment Tribunal sitting at Bedford, the Extended Reasons for which decision were promulgated on 3 October 2000.

2.	We are proposing to give permission to the employee Appellant to pursue an Appeal but on limited grounds.  Essentially, she has raised two principal issues of fact which she says leads to conclusions in law.  The first is that she had a right to continue working at home and was required to work in the office.  We think that is purely an issue of fact and upon consideration Mr Carr has withdrawn the Appeal on that basis.

3.	The second essential basis of the Appeal is that she was required by her employer upon return to work, if she was to return to work, to work longer hours than she had been contracted to do before taking maternity leave.  

4.	We see there is an arguable case about which we shall say no more that this may have been the position and that this issue may not have been resolved by the decision of the Employment Tribunal.

5.	Accordingly, we give leave to Mr Carr on behalf of Mrs Bradbury to pursue the Appeal.  He has indicated to us that in the course of that Appeal he will make criticisms of the way in which the Employment Tribunal has expressed its reasoning and we have indicated to him that our preliminary view is that ancillary to the point that he wishes to pursue in respect of the hours or work.

6.	There will be a revised skeleton argument concentrating on the one issue.  I do not think that a revised Notice of Appeal is required, but that skeleton argument and any skeleton argument in response focussing upon the same issue should be with this Tribunal no less than two weeks prior to the hearing with any cases to be relied upon, photocopied to the Tribunal.  Three copies please of each authority no less than a week prior.