Alec regularly appears in the Employment Tribunals in all forms of hearing, including being one of the early testers for CVP hearings in Bristol.
Alec learnt his trade under the tutelage of Stephen Roberts and Jason Taylor during his pupillage, before undertaking work in his own right.
Alec is regularly instructed for both claimants and respondents in all forms of employment law disputes including dismissals, Equality Act disputes and breaches of contract. Working for individuals, companies and Local Authorities, taking on work at all stages of the process, from advising on prospects, through to last minute instructions on contested tribunal hearings.
Although primarily based in Bristol, Alec has a national practice, appearing in tribunals in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London.
In terms of his approach, Alec takes a pragmatic view on all of his cases and is able to absorb large amounts of information quickly and effectively, often spotting issues and contradictions which others may miss, particularly when looking at issues concerning meta data and other electronic evidence, he is also able to apply his advocacy and analytical skills from his criminal practice to tribunal proceedings to good effect.
Alec also regularly assists the wider team in training, recently assisting in seminars on furlough, metadata, flexible working requests and he also demonstrated a mock trial for ACAS.
Recent cases
LG v GCC [2021] - Alec acted for the Claimant in this five-day remote tribunal, on unfair dismissal, Alec was able to deploy his in-depth knowledge of the papers to good effect in cross-examination.
JI v GCC [2020] - Alec successfully represented the Local Authority in this unfair dismissal looking at issues of long term sickness and part-time working.
CL v BCC [2020] - Alec successfully represented the Local Authority in this Unfair Dismissal and Discrimination case where a Youth Offending Team worker had been dismissed following a finding of Gross Misconduct. This was in fact the first full final hearing heard by Bristol Employment Tribunal via CVP, a test to test its viability, which went very smoothly.
LF V BCC [2019] - Alec represented the Local Authority in a case where a children’s social worker had been dismissed following a finding by the Family Court that she had lied in evidence, and doctored documents. The Local Authority had initially given the Claimant a final warning, before commencing a second disciplinary process which dismissed her. She claimed unfair dismissal, and was successful on the basis that instituting disciplinary proceedings until the preferred result was reached wss unfair. However, Alec was able to demonstrate that her actions in the Family Court, had irreparably damaged her ability to undertake her role going forwards, resulting in a contributory fault finding of 80% and a Polkey reduction of 50%.
AMD v LL [2018] - Alec represented the claimant in a one-day final hearing in a case alleging disability discrimination. Alec was able, through cross-examination based upon timesheets, pay slips and accounts to demonstrate that the Respondent had falsified his accounts, forcing a settlement before judgment.
AP v SC Ltd [2017] - Alec was instructed for the complainant in a five-day final hearing, the complainant had claimed for Sexual Harassment, Victimisation and Discrimination against her employers. Alec’s cross-examination of the chief witness for the Respondent revealed that evidence had been likely withheld and internal procedure not followed in relation to her initial complaints. In particular highlighting that the respondent witness had been able to prepare his defence to the complaint before he had been notified of it.
LC v Y NHS Trust - Acting for the claimant in disability discrimination case. Alec successfully argued that the claimant was disabled by law and had suffered discrimination by the defendant.
IH v RR - Alec represented a claimant in quasi-discrimination and redundancy case where he successfully argued that, in a case where discrimination was a live issue, the ordinary rule that claimants could not see the score sheets in a redundancy scheme did not apply due to the specific nature of the allegation that the Claimant had been unfairly treated. As a result the score sheets were disclosed in a partially redacted format to enable a full analysis of the scoring to be carried out.
SB v Z - Alec represented a claimant in the Central ET in a case against a government department concerning issues of anonymity, security and disability discrimination.
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Clerk:
Nick Jeanes
E: nick.jeanes@albionchambers.co.uk
T: 0117 311 0307
