Anya Palmer

Overview

Anya Palmer practises almost exclusively in employment law. She has extensive experience in the employment tribunal, county court, High Court, Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal.

Anya acts for both employers and claimants and practises in all areas of employment law. She also takes on employment-related matters such as professional misconduct hearings and negligent reference claims.

Cases include:

Gibson and others v Sheffield City Council IRLR 277;
Alstom Transport v Tilson UKEAT 0358/09 (agency workers/EJ finding sham contract/EJ finding implied contract of employment/EJ findings overturned);
Numerous cases involving agency workers, usually acting for the end user (including Cable & Wireless, Visteon UK Ltd, Alstom Transport);
Defending a well known insurance company from discrimination claims, and obtaining an order for costs in full;
Acting for various NHS trusts in a number of cases including London Ambulance Service v Small;
Defending the Metropolitan Police in a high-profile race claim (allegations of apartheid practices);
Defending a leading law firm in claims for race discrimination;
Regular work for a government department defending claims for unfair dismissal, discrimination, trade union detriment and flexible working applications;
Acting for union-funded claimants in a number of large multiple claims for equal pay;
Acting for a shop manager in claims for harassment on grounds of sexual orientation and constructive dismissal;
Resisting an application for an order preventing a nurse from practising;
Acting for and advising individuals and employers on redundancy matters;
Numerous pre-hearing reviews involving jurisdictional matters and/or no reasonable prospect of success.

Before coming to the bar, Anya worked for Stonewall, where she was involved in a number of high-profile test cases seeking to establish equal rights for lesbians and gay men.

Expertise

Employment & Discrimination

Anya is an employment law specialist. Examples of recent work include:

Successfully acted for:

Legal director of large multinational claiming maternity discrimination;
Wardens claiming breach of National Minimum Wage Act and Working Time Regulations;
A lift engineer who was unfairly blamed for an accident (reinstatement ordered).

Successfully defended:

Unfair dismissal/breach of contract claims by directors dismissed for breach of trust and confidence;
Sex discrimination and pregnancy discrimination claims against a housing trust;
Race discrimination claims against police (two different forces);
Sex and race discrimination claims against a leading university;
Race discrimination claims against a city law firm;
Race discrimination, religious discrimination and unfair dismissal claims against a local authority;
Disability discrimination and constructive dismissal claims against a Japanese corporation;
County Court claim for negligent reference against a charity.

Notable appeals:

Mr A Tilson v Alstom Transport EWCA Civ 1308, agency workers
Simpson v (1) Endsleigh Insurance Services Ltd (2) C Wood (3) M Thompson (4) A Cotton EqLR 130, Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999
Gibson & Others v Sheffield City Council IRLR 277, EWCA Civ 63, equal pay
London Ambulance Service NHS Trust v Small IRLR 563, CA (correct approach for tribunal in unfair dismissal claims)
Carter v London Underground Ltd LTL (disability-related discrimination/effect of statutory procedures/discretion to extend time)
North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust v Potter IRLR 176, EAT (equal pay: whether choice of comparator restricted by a requirement for “single source”)
Potter v North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust ICR 910, IRLR 22, EAT (equal pay: period of comparison for independent expert in equal value claims)
Successful defence of appeal by agency worker against tribunal finding that she did not have implied contact of employment with end user (Cairns v Visteon UK Ltd IRLR 175)
Cable & Wireless v Muscat ICR 975, IRLR 355, CA (implied contracts of employment and agency workers)
Successful appeal against tribunal decision that statutory procedure was breached where claimant did not have advance sight of all documents (Ingram v Bristol Street Parts, UKEAT/0601/06/CEA)