Following the decision in Ramphal, a further EAT ruling has reiterated the importance of confining HR's role in disciplinary proceedings to one of advice on legal questions and process, and of ensuring that the conclusions in any investigatory report include all the conclusions of the person investigating the allegations and no-one else's view.
In Dronsfield v University of Reading the EAT was critical of the fact that significant opinions favourable to the claimant were removed from the draft investigation report at a late stage, following review by the HR department and in-house lawyer. The tribunal should have sought an explanation for the changes in order to be able to assess the fairness of dismissal based on the report, so the case was remitted for reconsideration.
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Samantha Brown
Managing Partner, Employment, Pensions and Incentives, UK and EMEA, London
Steve Bell
Managing Partner, Employment, Industrial Relations and Safety, Asia and Australia, Melbourne
Emma Rohsler
Partner, Head of Employment, Pensions and Incentives, EMEA, Paris
Tim Leaver
Partner, London
Andrew Taggart
Partner, London
Fatim Jumabhoy
Partner, Head of Employment & Workplace Investigations, Asia, Singapore
Barbara Roth
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Christine Young
Partner, London
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