Catamaran Cruisers Ltd v Williams

Catamaran Cruisers Ltd v Williams
Court	Employment Appeal Tribunal
Citation(s)	[1994] IRLR 384
Keywords
Redundancy

Catamaran Cruisers Ltd v Williams [1994] IRLR 384 is a UK labour law case, concerning redundancy.

Facts

Catamaran Cruises Ltd did ferries and pleasure cruises on the Thames. French owners bought it following a near insolvency. The TGWU representatives had agreed new contract terms, offered to all employees. Seven claimants refused the new terms and were dismissed.

The Tribunal held the reason for offering the new terms was financial exigency, business efficiency and profitability and that the dismissals were unfair.

Judgment

Tudor Evans J held that a broader balancing test for what was ‘fair’ was appropriate under ERA 1996 s 98(4) and that this dismissal was fair. He quoted with approval Balcombe J in Chubb Fire Security Ltd v Harper^[1] and said the following.

“

It may be perfectly reasonable for an employee to decline to work extra overtime, having regard to his family commitments. Yet, from the employment point of view, having regard to his business commitments, it may be perfectly reasonable to require an employee to work overtime.

”

Notes

↑ [1983] IRLR 311

Redundancy cases

ERA 1996 ss 98 and 135-181 and TULRCA 1992 s 195

Lesney Products & Co v Nolan [1976] EWCA Civ 8

North Riding Garages v Butterwick [1967] 2 QB 56

Murphy v Epsom College [1984] EWCA Civ 12

Safeway Stores plc v Burrell [1997] ICR 523

Murray v Foyle Meats Ltd [1999] UKHL 30

High Table Ltd v Horst [1997] EWCA Civ 2000

Hollister v National Farmers’ Union [1979] ICR 542

Richmond Precision Engineering Ltd v Pearce [1985] IRLR 179

Catamaran Cruisers Ltd v Williams [1994] IRLR 384

Williams v Compair Maxam Ltd [1982] ICR 156 (EAT)

British Aerospace plc v Green [1995] EWCA Civ 26

Rolls Royce plc v Unite the Union [2009] EWCA Civ 387

ERA 1996 s 141

Thomas Wragg & Sons Ltd v Wood [1976] ICR 313

Thomas & Betts Manufacturing Ltd v Harding [1980] IRLR 255

Optical Express Ltd v Williams [2007] IRLR 936 (EAT)

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, March 02, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.