The NHS trust in this case unfairly treated two relatively minor criminal convictions as an adequate reason to dismiss a worker, in a case that is a cautionary tale for employers that treat a criminal conviction as an automatic reason for dismissal.
A civilian police worker unsuccessfully claimed unfair dismissal and disability discrimination after she lost her job for a dangerous driving conviction. This is an example of an employer legitimately dismissing a worker who has been convicted of a criminal offence outside work.
In this well-publicised case, the employer was in the unenviable position of having to decide whether or not an employee who had been charged with, but not yet tried for, murder should be dismissed.
An increasing number of tribunal cases involve employees making work-related comments on Facebook. This case shows that derogatory comments will by no means always justify dismissal.
The employer in this case had a laudable zero-tolerance policy on racism, but failed to take a common-sense view of the background to an accusation that a manager had made a racist comment.