Fire Brigades Union wins in Employment Appeals Tribunal
- FBU wins landmark Tribunal case against former Executive Council member
- Lay officials are not Union employees, Employment Tribunal rules
- Employment Appeals Tribunal categorically overturns original judgement
- New judgement “a relief for the whole trade union movement”, says FBU
The Fire Brigades Union has won a landmark judgement at the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
In the original case, the Employment Tribunal ruled that Paul Embery had been unfairly dismissed from his role as an Executive Council member.
In its appeal, FBU argued that as an elected lay official, Embery could not have been dismissed unfairly because he was not an employee of the union.
The judgement is a significant legal win for the FBU. In a highly unusual move, the Employment Appeals Tribunal completely overturned and substituted the original ruling.
At stake was a broader principle in how trade unions function. While unions do employ staff, lay officials are part of a different, elected structure. Lay officials are accountable to the Executive Council and other elected bodies, not to the staffing structures of the Union.
In the FBU, some lay officials are given full-time release to undertake union activities and, depending on the arrangements with local Fire and Rescue Services, the Union may pay some of the costs of their salary.
Paul Embery joined the London Fire Brigade in 1997. In 2008, he was elected as regional official for the FBU, and went on full-time release from September 2008. His time at the FBU came to an end in July 2019, when he was debarred from holding office for the union for breaching the FBU’s rules – but he continued to be an employee of the London Fire Brigade.
Commenting on the outcome of the Employment Appeals Tribunal, FBU National Officer Mark Rowe said:
“The Fire Brigades Union welcomes this judgement, which vindicates our arguments and actions in this case.
“The ruling will come as a relief not only to the FBU but to the whole trade union movement. It is vital that the distinction between staff and officials is preserved. Lay officials are the elected leadership and representatives of the union, not its employees. Treating lay officials as employees would have had serious implications, both in principle and in practice.
“We hope that this judgement puts an end to the legal dispute over Paul Embery’s time as an official of the Union. Mr Embery was barred from holding office under democratically established rules and processes. This decision was upheld by a vote of delegates representing firefighters from across the UK at a democratic conference.
“The Fire Brigades Union looks forward to getting on with what we do best – fighting for our members’ interests.”
