Gerard Airey
Gerard qualified as a Solicitor in 2008 and from that point he practised employment law at one of the UK’s largest employment law firms for just under 11 years. He joined the firm as a Partner in the Employment Law department in 2019.
Gerard has extensive experience of advising and litigating in employment law, having dealt with over 1000 cases. He has a wealth of experience in advising on unfair dismissal, redundancy (including protective award claims), changes to terms and conditions, discrimination (including sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, disability, age and religion and belief) harassment and victimisation, whistleblowing, TUPE, equal pay, holiday pay and working time issues, national minimum wage, employee status and trade union related issues. He is also very experienced in multi party disputes and is experienced in carrying out Tribunal advocacy (preliminary and final hearings).
Gerard has successfully acted in a number of significant cases in the Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. Those include:
Abercrombie v AGA Rangemaster (2013) EWCA Civ 1148: Acted for over 300 Claimants in the Court of Appeal, obtaining guarantee payments following a temporary agreement to reduce working hours.
Plumb v Duncan Print Group UKEAT/0071/15/DA: An Employment Appeal Tribunal case establishing that Working Time Directive holiday which accrues during sickness absence is subject to an 18 month carry-over period. This involved reading words into Regulation 13(9) Working Time Regulations 1998.
HMRC v Saldanha UKEAT/0067/17: Defending an appeal in the Employment Appeal Tribunal to a finding that an assessment and the resulting revocation of an offer of employment was due to race discrimination.
Amey Services Ltd v Cunning UKEAT/0009/18/RN: Defending an appeal in the Employment Appeal Tribunal to the finding that there had been material compliance with an Unless Order.
Flowers v East of England Ambulance NHS Trust 3400310/2015: Acted in the Employment Tribunal claims which resulted in the Court of Appeal decision which confirmed that voluntary overtime should be included in the calculation of holiday pay. The case also confirmed that NHS staff should receive average pay on all holiday due to the Agenda for Change national terms and conditions.
McFarlane and Ambacher v Easyjet Airline Company Limited 1401496/2015: A landmark Employment Tribunal case which established that accommodation should be made for women wishing to return to work and remain breastfeeding upon their return.
Sisk v Department of Work and Pensions 3323944/2016: An Employment Tribunal case which found that it was pregnancy and maternity discrimination to remove a woman from her role when she took maternity leave and force her to accept an alternative when she returned. This led to a recommendation that Fraud Managers in the region should have training on maternity rights for female employees.
Blakely v On-site Recruitment Solutions Limited (2017) UKEAT 0134: An employee status appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal against the finding that the Claimant was not a worker when there was a contract between the parties which involved personal service. This case was reported in the Mirror.
Other notable cases include:
British Gypsum Limited v Thompson (2011) UKEAT 0115: Defending an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal that the Claimant had been selected for redundancy due to his trade union activities.
Watson v London Metropolitan University (2015) UKEAT 0208: Appealing the decision of the Employment Tribunal that the Claimant was not subjected to detriment due to his trade union activities.
Hurley v Suffolk County Council 3304428/2018: Acted for the Claimant in a claim for unfair dismissal.
Williams v Royal Bank of Scotland: Obtained a settlement of £150,000 in an equal pay claim when Ms Williams had not been paid the same as a male comparator when they carried out like work. This case was reported in the Mirror
Gerard Airey Recommendations
“Gerard Airey successfully represented two Unite the Union members employed by Easyjet in indirect sex discrimination claims brought before the Employment Tribunal; the claims concerned accommodation for breastfeeding mothers”; Legal 500 2018
“Gerard Airey, who is highly tenacious”; Legal 500 2019
