Caroline Stone

Call 2005
Email caroline.stone@3pb.co.uk
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Employment

Caroline is regularly instructed to advise on and appear in Employment Tribunal proceedings. Her cases range from preliminary hearings to substantive week-long trials, representing the full spectrum of the labour market – from cleaners to ‘hedge fund’ employers/employees. She has also advised on the merits of appealing decisions to the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

Caroline has experience of:

• unfair dismissal – including constructive unfair dismissal, gross misconduct and the reasonableness of selection criteria for redundancy
• the definition of an ‘employee’
• TUPE
• unlawful deduction of wages (including bonus schemes)
• breach of contract claims
• public interest disclosures relating to health and safety
• all forms of discrimination claims, including indirect discrimination
• Equal Pay Act claims

Recent cases of interest include:

• Advising as to whether a Civil Service injury benefit scheme (Ministry of Defence) was indirectly discriminatory on the grounds of age
• Advising whether termination of employment in order to prevent an employee accessing their pension amounted to age discrimination
• In a recent unfair dismissal claim, Caroline successfully argued that an individual who had accounted for their own tax and national insurance for over 20 years and had a considerable degree of autonomy in the manner in which work was completed was nonetheless an ‘employee’

Caroline represents both Claimants and Respondents, providing valuable insight into the complexities of the workplace environment and the underlying sociological factors which drive and shape employment litigation. Caroline is alert to the commercial realities which often call for the pragmatic resolution of a case.