Disclosure of unredacted financial documents ordered in wrongful termination and discrimination claims - BM Insights

Background

Twelve former crew members of the defendant airline have filed claims for unfair dismissal and some of them have also filed claims for indirect discrimination on grounds including sex and age following a redundancy scheme at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Although most of the claimants accepted that a genuine redundancy situation existed, they all questioned the procedural fairness of their dismissal. In particular, it was argued that the defendant’s selection criteria were not “transparent”.

Defendant initially disclosed approximately 50 pages of documents in redacted form, including copies of internal management documents containing redacted information regarding personnel costs and potential savings. The plaintiffs argued that this information was relevant to their claims and requested specific disclosure of the unredacted documents.

The Labor Court judge found that “The flavor of all these documents is that they provide an analysis of the different options available to the respondent during the consultation and dismissal period contemplated in these proceedings, including an analysis of the financial impact of the different options. »

By a case management decision dated 29 August 2023, it was held that the defendant was required to disclose unredacted copies of internal management documents from the period April to July 2020 on the basis that the material was relevant to to the issues pleaded in the case and that the disclosure was necessary and proportionate.

The redacted portions of the documents were found to be relevant to:

Whether there was a situation of dismissal and whether dismissal was the reason for dismissal in the case of the claimants;
The fairness of selection criteria from the perspective of unfair dismissal; And
Discrimination purports to show whether the selection criteria could be justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.