1. The House of Lords recently handed down judgment in the case of Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Lewisham v Malcolm [25/6/08].[1] The House of Lords have held that a schizophrenic who sub-let his council flat during a period when he was not taking his medication was not subjected to disability related discrimination when the local authority ended his tenancy and began possession proceedings. The House of Lords ruled that Clark v Novocald [1999] ICR 951 was wrongly decided by the Court of Appeal.
2. The decision has been widely regarded as overturning established principles under disability discrimination law and causing both uncertainty and confusion in the disability discrimination field. The implications of the decision will be considered in the webcast.

1. Whilst many changes are planned for next year, the current application of the statutory dispute resolution procedures continues. A recent case decided by the EAT was Procek v Oakford Farms Ltd [2008] UKEAT/0049/08 in this case an employee lodged a grievance but stated that it was intended to be informal and not a statutory grievance. The Employment Tribunal held at first instance that in the circumstances it could not be treated as a statutory grievance, and since no other grievance had been lodged prior to presenting the claim, the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear the case. The claimant appealed the decision on jurisdiction to the EAT.

To view the webcast you must be logged in to the website - if you have forgotten your password please use the forgotten password link.