Louise is very experienced in this field, having practiced in this area for a considerable period of time and having been a fee-paid employment tribunal judge since 2001. She is recognised in the legal directories as a leading senior junior with a large body of experience in discrimination and equal pay. She excels at preparing and presenting lengthy, fact rich, document heavy first instance employment cases. Her practice also encompasses all other aspects of employment litigation including injunctive proceedings relating to threatened disciplinary action or dismissal and she appears in the appellate courts.
She regularly acts on behalf of local authorities, NHS Trusts, police services, financial institutions and other large employers in complex discrimination cases and has represented several local authorities and NHS Trusts in large multi-party equal pay. She has been instructed in the Birmingham City Council equal pay litigation (reputed to be the largest ever equal pay case) since 2007, and more recently in large private sector equal pay claims.
Louise also acts regularly on behalf of employees and trade unions. She has particular expertise in matters relating to the employment and dismissal of medical practitioners and is instructed regularly by both NHS Trusts and doctors.
A selection of recent cases:
Discrimination
- X v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis – whistleblowing and disability discrimination with multiple preliminary issues – ongoing and listed for 8 weeks in 2021;
- The Commissioner of the City of London Police v Geldart UKEAT/0032/19 – sex/maternity discrimination;
- Shittu v South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust [2019] – disability discrimination and other matters;
- X v a firm [2019] – complex associative discrimination claim involving a vulnerable witness;
- Dahou v. Serco Ltd – trade union dismissal claim – went to the Court of Appeal via the EAT and was remitted to the tribunal;
- Kudrath v. National Policing Improvement Agency – 5-week ET case about sex and race discrimination. Acted for the Respondent and succeeded in relation to all 62 allegations.
Equal Pay
- Ongoing equal pay claims against a large supermarket;
- Birmingham City Council equal pay litigation which has included a 5-week GMF hearing and multiple other appearances in the tribunal, EAT, CA and the Supreme Court (in Abdulla & others [2013] IRLR 38);
- Stage 2 hearing involving an individual claimant listed in 2020;
- Like work and EV claim against a financial institution – ongoing in 2020;
- Many other multiple and individual claims in both the private and public sector organisations.
Injunctions
- Jain v Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust;
- Elangovan v The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust;
- Fynes v St Georges Healthcare NHS Trust [2014] All ER (D) 210 (Mar) – claim for an injunction to restrain a Trust for pursuing conduct proceedings;
- West London Mental Health Trust v. Dr Chhabra [2013] IRLR 398 – CA case about injunctive relief so as to restrain proposed disciplinary proceedings;
- WRN Ltd v. Ayris [2008] IRLR 889, a case involving the enforcement of restrictive covenants;
- Kulkarni v. Milton Keynes Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2009] IRLR 829 – Louise obtained the initial HC injunction in this case.
