Where an employer faces a claim for failing to permit a trade union official to exercise their statutory right to reasonable paid time off to undertake union duties, will the employer be liable if the failure was unintentional or a mistake?

Where an employer recognises an independent trade union, that employer must permit any of its employees who is an official of that trade union to take time off, during working hours, for the purpose of carrying out any of their duties as such an official, where those duties are concerned with:

1. •

   negotiations with the employer relating to collective bargaining on matters in respect of which the trade union is recognised by the employer

2. •

   the performance, on behalf of employees of the employer, of functions relating to such matters, which the employer has agreed may be performed by the trade union

3. •

   receipt of information from the employer, and consultation by the employer, in accordance with the statutory provisions relating to collective redundancies or transfer of undertakings

4. •

   negotiations with a view to agreeing a variation to the terms and conditions