Safety rep win

A safety rep has won a victory at an employment tribunal over her right to time off for health and safety training. Susan Catten, a rep for PCS civil service union at the Hackney office of the Department of Social Security (DSS), was refused time off work in September 1999 to attend the TUC

Stage III health and safety course.

The union argued that the management decision to refuse her time off was unreasonable. The tribunal concluded that time off should have been granted, and that the "business case" test put forward by the DSS was not appropriate in these circumstances. The appropriate criterion was whether attendance at the course was reasonable to allow her to carry out her health and safety duties.