The Court of Appeal has held that an employer's decision to start a second set of disciplinary proceedings after an employee has already been disciplined for the same offence does not automatically render a subsequent dismissal unfair.
The Court of Appeal has reiterated the general principle that it is legitimate for an employer to take into account a prior final written warning when deciding to dismiss an employee, provided that the warning was issued in good faith and was not manifestly inappropriate.
This tribunal decision provides a stark reminder to employers of the information on agency workers that they have been required to produce during redundancy and TUPE consultations since amendments to legislation made on 1 October 2011.
The employment tribunal held that the claimant was unfairly dismissed for allegedly breaching the employer's policy prohibiting smoking in company vehicles.