Rojgar Job News

There are many things about our jobs which we all find irksome from time to time but right up there for me (#firstworldproblems) is gratuitous use in legal correspondence of the heading without prejudice “subject to costs”. What this is supposed to mean is that the correspondence is intended to be without prejudice and so kept out of the Tribunal until a decision on liability has been made (so far so good), but that it may thereafter be relied upon in support of an application for costs. As we know, however, costs awards in the ET are (some say regrettably) very hard to obtain. The level of unreasonableness required is very high. Rule 76(1)(a) of the 2013 Constitution and Rules of Procedure Regulations says that you have to be “ vexatious, abusive, disruptive or otherwise unreasonable ” in the bringing or conduct of the claim, so this goes way beyond merely having a weak case or losing after the other side said you would. Rule 80, concerning wasted costs orders, ...