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An employment consultant is an
expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
who advises courts and tribunals on employment related issues such as earnings, labour market analysis, residual earning capacity, and retraining. The main area involved is that of personal injury litigation where loss of earnings is an important component of a claim. Employment consultants give evidence on pre and post accident earnings, thus establishing a loss of earnings formula. Employment consultants also deal with sex, race and
disability discrimination Ableism (; also known as ablism, disablism (British English), anapirophobia, anapirism, and disability discrimination) is discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities or who are perceived to be disabled. Ableism characteri ...
, matrimonial matters and any case involving a loss or dispute of earnings. Increasingly, pay parity is a growth area. Usually solicitors will use an employment report to quantify the loss of earnings or ''Smith v. Manchester'' awards. An employment consultant, like other experts witnesses, may be instructed by the solicitors for the claimant, the defendant, or as a jointly instructed expert, and may be required to give evidence under oath at trials and tribunal hearings. Although employment consultants provide reports for many jurisdictions worldwide, the core areas are the countries using the
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...
system. Because of its different trial and compensation system for personal injury, the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
is less important than might be expected, and the main jurisdictions for which these experts prepare reports are
England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
,
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
and
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
. Most employment experts are based in the UK. This type of expertise was a growth area from the mid-1980s to the end of the 1990s, but was adversely affected by changes in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, the most important area. These included the withdrawal of legal aid for most personal injury cases, which meant that lawyers operating on a "
no win no fee A contingent fee (also known as a contingency fee in the United States or a conditional fee in England and Wales) is any fee for services provided where the fee is payable only if there is a favourable result. Although such a fee may be used in many ...
" basis were less likely to take up claims or incur the additional costs. The
Civil Procedure Rules 1998 The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) were introduced in 1997 as per the Civil Procedure Act 1997 by the Civil Procedure Rule Committee and are the rules of civil procedure used by the Court of Appeal, High Court of Justice, and County Courts in civil ...
also meant that the need for an expert report had to be sanctioned by a District Judge, which, together with the introduction of joint instruction also reduced demand. In the decade since the CPR a number of practitioners have diversified into associated areas such as case management, rehabilitation, and, increasingly, pay parity cases, following the wave of such cases initiated in the mid-2000s by
trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
s and the controversial solicitor, Stefan Cross. A recent (2007) case of importance to employment consultants and personal injury solicitors is Van Wees v Karkour and Walsh. This dealt with the medical aspects of post-traumatic amnesia, but also clarified the financial impact of mild head injury even on those who remain capable of high level work. The judge in the case also made an important ruling that awards to women should not be based on their current lower earnings compared to men in the same occupation, since that would perpetuate inequality in the face of equal pay legislation.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Employment Consultant Evidence law Consulting occupations Economic occupations