CASE STUDY – GROVE PROPERTIES ESTATE AGENCY
Grove Properties is a large estate agency with a number of offices in London. In its Islington office Grove Properties employs 25 people. The partners are Antonio and Nisha and they run a very busy property sales and letting agency.
Most people employed by the firm work as sales negotiators. They take on clients who wish to sell or rent their property and then negotiate sales or lettings on behalf of their clients. There are fifteen sales negotiators in the office including two managers, one responsible for sales and one for lettings. In addition, there are a number of secretaries who make appointments, answer the telephone and do the office typing. They work shifts to ensure that there is always at least one secretary in the office at all times to take calls from clients and potential buyers. They must cover the office telephones from 8.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday and from 10.00am to 2.00pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Two sales negotiators – Jiksha and Natasha – have previously worked as secretaries for the agency.
Tom works in the Lettings department. He has worked in his job for three years and has just been promoted. Tom has been quite successful at Grove Properties but since promotion has had to work quite hard just to keep up with the new requirements of the job. The increasing stress Tom has had to face has resulted in him drinking heavily. There have been a number of episodes where he has turned up for work drunk and he often slurs his speech when talking to clients. Tom has a large amount of responsibility for all the letting schedules and he is solely responsible for ensuring that all the members of his team have a detailed schedule for showing property to potential clients. There have been several recent incidents where confusion has occurred for customers turning up to view property and a couple of customers have actually been turned away by Tom when things have got too busy. Tom also deals with peoples’ flat deposits and he has managed to get into a muddle with the company money and his own bank account.
In addition to the problems Tom has been having in work, his drinking has also led to problems in his personal life. He has been in trouble with the police for being drunk and disorderly. Tom is worried that if his employer finds out about his run-in with the police they will be able to dismiss him legally.
Antonio and Nisha realise that they have staffing problems which could have legal implications. They therefore have asked you for your advice on the possible legal consequences of the above situations.
Question
Tom has found out that Antonio knows about the problems he has been having at work. Tom is even more worried that Antonio will find out about his run-in with the police.
Advise Antonio whether he is legally able to dismiss Tom and explain to him what he would need to do to avoid a claim of unfair dismissal. You should refer to relevant legislation and case law.
Focus on the Equality Act 2010
UK law only
s.108
s.98 (4)
Potentially fair reason
Range of reasonable tests
ACAS code of practice
Advice on the remedies
What remedies is Tom entitled to
? Refer to case law such as Iceland Frozen Foods v Jones (1983)
? Burchell case
THIS IS ONLY A FEW POINTS. YOU NEED TO TALK UPON OTHER AREAS OF UNFAIR DISMISSAL AND LEGISLATIONS AND MORE CASE LAWS
YOU DO NOT NEED TO EXPLAIN CASE LAWS, BUT APPLY THEM
Assessment criteria for the case study:
(use this as a checklist before submission)
Your answer for the case study should include:
• An explanation of the relevant law (including case law)
• Application of the law to the facts of the case study
• Relevant conclusions and legal advice
Part 2 (60% of marks for this assessment)
You are required to research and write an essay on a topical area of individual employment rights. Word limit – 1,500 words
Essay Title:
1. Explain the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 relating to discrimination and discuss the difficulties associated with clashes between competing rights and how these might be resolved.
You should refer to relevant case law, statute and international agreements where appropriate
Some points
– What are the protected characteristics
– Direct and indirect
– Focus on aspects of laws on religion/beliefs
– Focus on case laws of Eweida, Ladele, Chaplin, McFarlane
– THIS IS ONLY A FEW POINTS. YOU NEED TO TALK UPON OTHER AREAS OF RELEVANT CASE LAWS, STATUTE ETC.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO EXPLAIN CASE LAWS, BUT APPLY THEM
Assessment criteria:
(use this as a checklist before submission)
Your essay must include the following:
– An appropriate title
– An explanation of the relevant law which you have chosen to examine
– Evidence of wide and relevant research
– An analysis of the law including public policy issues
– Critical comment on the efficacy and desirability of the current law and any proposed changes
– Relevant conclusions and recommendations where appropriate
– Full and appropriate references and bibliography
GRADING CRITERIA
Grade A
i) Evidence of wide research using appropriate sources ii) Use of a wide variety of sources
iii) Complete referencing of sources throughout
iv) Complete and correctly cited bibliography
v) A very good understanding of the question asked and of the issues raised therein
vi) Excellent use of appropriate material relevant to the question asked
vii) Excellent evidence of understanding of the legal issues involved, with a clear explanation of those issues supported by relevant authority
viii) Excellent evidence of critical analysis of the issues relating to the question asked supported by relevant authority
ix) Clear structure and presentation of the material in an appropriate format
x) Clear conclusions appropriate to the question asked based upon the arguments presented
xi) Clear recommendations, where appropriate, which are supported by the arguments presented