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Fox v British Airways Plc

The Times Law Reports Cited authorities 2 Cited in Precedent Map Related
Vincent
JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date31 July 2013
Date31 July 2013
CourtCourt of Appeal (Civil Division)

Court of Appeal

Before Lord Justice Moore-Bick, Lord Justice Pitchford, Lord Justice Underhill

Fox
and
British Airways plc
Son's estate entitled to benefit.

Where a claimant could establish liability for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination in respect of his son who had been a member of a company pension scheme but had died shortly after dismissal by the company for medical incapacity, the son's estate would be entitled to compensation in a s um equivalent to the full amount of the death in service benefit which would have been payable under the scheme if the son had remained in employment at the date of his death. The Court of Appeal so stated when dismissing the appeal of the employer, British Airways plc, against a decision of Mr Justice Langstaff, sitting in the Employment Appeal Tribunal,ICR ([2013] ICR 51) that if the claimant, Henry Fox as appropriate person, were to establish liability for unfair dismissal or disability discrimination in relation to his deceased son, Gary Fox, the son's estate would be entitled to c ompensation in a sum equivalent to the full amount of the benefit that would have been payable under the company pension scheme if the son had remained in employment at the date of his death.

Mr Akash Nawbatt for the British Airways plc; Mr Tom Coghlin for the claimant.

LORD JUSTICE UNDERHILL said that the starting-point in considering the recoverability of compensation for losses of the kind suffered both in Auty v National Coal BoardWLR ([1985] 1 WLR 784) and in the present case was that the benefits in question formed part of the employee's remuneration.

The law would be seriously defective if an employee were unable to claim compensation where such rights were adversely affected as a result of a wrong merely because the...

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