CORONA VIRUS AND THE COURTS
A DIRECTION FROM H H JUDGE BRIAN DOYLE, PRESIDENT, EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (ENGLAND & WALES)
Judge Doyle, President of Employment Tribunals (E & W) published on the 18th March, 2020 the Presidential Guidance which can be accessed by the link HERE.
In view of the rapidly changing circumstances created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Presidents of the Employment Tribunals in England & Wales and in Scotland have directed that from Monday 23 March 2020 all in-person hearings (hearings where the parties are expected to be in attendance at a tribunal hearing centre) will be converted to a case management hearing by telephone or other electronic means which will take place (unless parties are advised otherwise) on the first day allocated for the hearing. This will provide an opportunity to discuss how best to proceed in the light of the Presidential Guidance dated 18 March 2020, unless in the individual case the President, a Regional Employment Judge or the Vice-President directs otherwise.
If the case is set down for more than one day then parties should proceed on the basis that the remainder of the days fixed have been cancelled.
For the avoidance of doubt, this direction also applies to any hearing that is already in progress on Monday 23 March 2020 and, if not already addressed before then, the parties may assume that the hearing on that day is converted to a case management hearing of the kind referred to above. The parties remain free to make any application to the Tribunal at any time.
A MESSAGE FROM H H JUDGE HAIGH, LEAD JUDGE MANCHESTER FINANCIAL REMEDY COURT
At least for the foreseeable future, and whilst the government guidelines are in place, could I encourage all practitioners with first appointments in the financial remedies court after 1 April to give active consideration to the application in their case of the fourth schedule to the good practice guide which allows these hearings to be resolved by approval of the consent order submitted 14 days prior to the hearing.
I have given a strong indication to all financial remedy judges that they are entitled to waive the timescales where appropriate. I appreciate this will involve a work commitment in terms of discussions and negotiations. It is important however that we do everything we can to reduce the number of court hearings and associated infection risk
Could I also encourage practitioners in these discussions to consider, if appropriate, private FDRs. I appreciate this involves an additional layer of cost. It will however again reduce the number of times people have to come to court and reduce overall infection risk.
Lastly many practitioners have good ideas which we might implement at this time please do feel free to contact me.
My clerk’s email address is [email protected]