Agenda and minutes

Employment Matters Appeals Panel - Friday, 6 September 2013 9.30am

Venue: Meeting Room 13 - Level 3, Gun Wharf, Dock Road, Chatham ME4 4TR. View directions

Contact: Ellen Wright, Democratic Services Officer 

Items
No. Item

333.

Election of the Chairman

Minutes:

Decision:

 

It was agreed that Councillor Wicks be appointed Chairman for this meeting. 

334.

Record of the meeting

To agree that the Chairman, in consultation with other members of the Employment Matters Appeals Panel, sign the minutes outside of the meeting.

Minutes:

Decision:

 

It was agreed that the Chairman, in consultation with other Members of the Employment Matters Appeals Panel, sign the minutes outside of the meeting. 

335.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

There were none. 

336.

Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests

A member need only disclose at any meeting the existence of a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) in a matter to be considered at that meeting if that DPI has not been entered on the disclosable pecuniary interests register maintained by the Monitoring Officer.

 

A member disclosing a DPI at a meeting must thereafter notify the Monitoring Officer in writing of that interest within 28 days from the date of disclosure at the meeting.

 

A member may not participate in a discussion of or vote on any matter in which he or she has a DPI (both those already registered and those disclosed at the meeting) and must withdraw from the room during such discussion/vote.

 

Members may choose to voluntarily disclose a DPI at a meeting even if it is registered on the council’s register of disclosable pecuniary interests but there is no legal requirement to do so.

 

In line with the training provided to members by the Monitoring Officer members will also need to consider bias and pre-determination in certain circumstances and whether they have a conflict of interest or should otherwise leave the room for Code reasons.

Minutes:

There were none. 

337.

Exclusion of the press and public pdf icon PDF 63 KB

This report summarises the content of agenda item 6, which, in the opinion of the proper officer, contains exempt information within one of the categories in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. It is a matter for the Committee to determine whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the documents.

Minutes:

The Employment Matters Appeals Panel agreed that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the exempt material relating to agenda item 6 (Matter for Decision) because consideration of these matters in public would disclose information falling within Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and, in all the circumstances of the case the Employment Matters Appeals Panel considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

338.

Matter of decision

Appeal against dismissal as detailed in the attached schedule. 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Discussion:

 

The Panel considered an appeal against dismissal on the grounds of ill health capability.

 

The Panel very carefully considered all the information presented and decided to uphold the decision to dismiss but in recognition of the appellant’s length of service and close proximity to retirement age, requested that the Assistant Director – Organisational Services use her delegated powers to release the appellant’s deferred pension on compassionate grounds.

 

Decision:

 

The original decision to dismiss the appellant be upheld but in recognition of the appellant’s length of service and close proximity to retirement age, the Assistant Director –Organisational Services be requested to use her delegated powers to release the appellant’s deferred pension on compassionate grounds.