Joanne Connolly

SPECIALIST AREAS OF PRACTICE
Exclusively employment law and employment related disputes whether in the Tribunal, County Court or High Court.

APPOINTMENTS
Fee Paid Employment Judge, Midlands West region 2010

PROFILE
Joanne has been named by Chambers & Partners in the top band of employment law barristers for a number of years. She is pleased to act for both employers and employees, for the public sector and the private sector and for in-house solicitors as well as those in private practice. Her work incorporates employment disputes in all areas including the NHS, education, banking, local government, the police and the legal profession as well as in business generally. She regularly handles cases where there is a great deal at stake whether in terms of compensation, number of employees affected or publicity. Her practice focuses on the higher-value, more complex, sensitive or multi-week discrimination, transfer of undertakings, whistle-blowing and working time claims but also includes unfair dismissal and redundancy claims. She is experienced at both first instance and appellate level. She also has substantial experience of acting as a representative in mediations.

CASES

Bessong v Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust UKEAT/0247/18 Choudhury J - a claim that an employer was liable for harassment by a third party where the issue on appeal centred on the nature and extent of the UK's obligations in this regard under EU law and the consequent interpretation of the EqA 2010.

Mediguard v Thame [1994] IRLR 504, EAT - whether compensation for unfair dismissal was pay within Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome

Regina v Azmy [1996] 7 Med LR 415 - acting on behalf of an NHS trust where the issue was the entitlement of a defendant in a criminal trial to a complainant’s medical records

Staffordshire County Council v Barber [1996] ICR 379, CA - listed together with Biggs v Somerset County Council, resjudicata and time limits in Tribunal claims brought under EC law

UNISON and others v RCO Support Services & others [2002] EWCA Civ 464 - whether the transfer of undertakings regulations applied to contracting out in the service industry

Batty v BSB [2002] EWCA Civ 648 - employment contract dispute re the right to withhold salary from a senior executive

Kirton v Tetrosyl [2003] EWCA Civ 619 - whether a condition caused by the surgical treatment for cancer could amount to a disability within the meaning of the DDA 1995

North Wales Probation Area v Edwards UKEAT/0468/07 - employment status of sessional workers

Patel v Oldham MBC & the Governors of Rushcroft Primary School [2010] IRLR 280 - whether the effects of two consecutive, connected conditions could be aggregated for the purpose of determining whether a condition was long term within the meaning of the DDA 1995

Marcroft v Heartland (Midlands) Ltd [2011] EWCA Civ 438 - the application of TUPE to an employee who was working out his notice and was unaware of the details of the transfer or his right to object.

PRESCRIBED INFORMATION

Joanne Connolly is a practising barrister, who is regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Details of information held by the BSB about Ms Connolly can be found here. 

Ms Connolly’s clerks will happily provide no obligation quotations for all legal services that she provides. Their contact details can be found here. It is most common for Ms Connolly to undertake Court or Tribunal work for a fixed brief fee for the first day plus a daily refresher fee for the subsequent days. Advisory work, paperwork or conferences are most commonly charged at an hourly rate. Ms Connolly will typically return paperwork within 5-10 working days, however professional commitments, complexity and volume of documentation can affect these approximate timescales.