Tribunal Recommendations

[Thanks to Ed McFarlane of Deminos HR for preparing this case summary]

The EAT (HHJ McMullen QC presiding) has handed down Judgment in Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle v Delambre which is authority for the proposition that an Employment Tribunal has a wide discretion in making recommendations when upholding a discrimination complaint, and on appeal, there is a narrow ability to interfere with that discretion.

The employer, a French school in London, committed age discrimination and victimisation against the Claimant, who remains employed there, after not considering her for promotion. The Employment Tribunal's remedies included three recommendations:

• informing the "governing board" and senior management of the Tribunal Judgments;
• engaging an HR Professional to review their policies and procedures;
• and having a programme of equality and diversity training cascaded through the organisation.

The employer argued that the three recommendations (prior to the Equality Act 2010, under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006) were inappropriate on various bases, principally being too broad. The EAT disagreed, holding that recommendations to ameliorate discrimination against the Claimant were within the Employment Tribunal's discretion, and, applying Fuller v London Borough of Brent [2011] EWCA Civ 267, resisted "...tinkering impermissibly in the proper province of the Employment Tribunal..." where it felt that it may have disagreed.

The appeal did not extend to the Employment Tribunal's rejection of a strong contender for "Cheekiest Legal Argument of the Year" from the employer, that in an age discrimination case "...being French was a mitigating factor..." (para. 10).