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.