Fees paid by Union can be reimbursed

In Ibarz v University Sheffield the EAT held that it had power under the EAT Rules to order the Respondent to repay the successful Appellant’s fees even where the fees had in fact been paid by the Trade Union. This is contrary to the previous decision by the EAT in Goldwater and Others v Sellafield Limited which held that no reimbursement order may be made where the fees are payable by a third party on the Appellant’s behalf. In the current case, the EAT considered this decision was wrong. There are now therefore now have two contrasting EAT decisions on this matter.

This legal update is provided for general information purposes only and should not be applied to specific circumstances without prior consultation with us.

For further details on any of the issues covered in this update please contact Gemma Ospedale, Partner in Employment on 020 7583 2222.