BOSSES will have to hand employees’ work histories over to coroners at inquests concerning workers who may have died from industrial disease thanks to a court victory by Unite.

The union’s legal services team took HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to court over HMRC’s insistence that a High Court order be obtained before it would hand the work history of an employee — a Mr Carmichael — who died after suffering asbestosis to a Liverpool inquest.

The judicial review ruled that no application to the High Court should be needed.

Unite executive director for legal, membership and affiliated services Howard Beckett said: “This successful legal challenge has ensured Mr Carmichael’s family, and thousands of other victims of industrial disease, will not have to face unnecessary bureaucracy delaying a coroner investigating the cause of death. Unite records its appreciation to Thompsons Solicitors for representing the interests our members and their families.”