Michael Barrow recently won an unfair dismissal claim in the Employment Tribunal for the Deputy Chief Executive for a well known charity, with the compensatory award being in excess of £52,000.

The Respondent, as part of its defence to the claim, tried to aver that because of its charitable status, that they were somehow exempt from the rigours of employment law when it came to disciplinary and personnel issues and also tried to argue that its statues should be reflected in the amont of the award to the successful Claimant.

The Employment Tribunal, rightly, refused to allow such arguments to succeed. The lesson from the case is no matter what the employer’s status, employment law, with all its rights, duties and obligations, fully applies as it would to any other employer.