The employer in this case just about got away with using secretly recorded CCTV footage to dismiss five employees who were caught urinating on company property on numerous occasions, in a two-to-one majority decision in the employment tribunal.
An adequate investigation and a fair system of warnings are key to the successful defence of an unfair dismissal claim related to misconduct, as this case shows.
The Court of Appeal has held that an employee's contract of employment was terminated by the transfer of pay in lieu of notice into his bank account, even though he did not know at the time that this had happened.
In this case, the employment tribunal held that an employer placed too much emphasis on an employee's "flippant" and "sarcastic" attitude during a disciplinary hearing and failed properly to consider the flaws in the evidence against him.