Misconduct dismissals

New and updated

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Summary dismissal for single safety breach was fair

  In this tribunal decision, an employee's summary dismissal for a single, serious breach of health and safety rules was held to be fair and non-discriminatory.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Drug testing: fair dismissal of employee who tested positive for cannabis

  In DLA Piper's case of the week, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered the case of an employee who was dismissed after testing positive for cannabis.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Unfair dismissal: no obligation on employer to follow independent appeal panel

  In DLA Piper's case of the week, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered a case in which the employer was found to have fairly dismissed someone despite choosing not to follow the findings of an independent appeal panel.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Case round-up

  Neil Window is a trainee solicitor, Heather Marsh, Carly Mather, Associate and David Rintoul are associate solicitors, and Catherine Barker is managing associate at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. They round up the latest rulings.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Unfair dismissal: £15,000 for Portuguese care worker dismissed for single use of rude word

  A tribunal award of nearly £15,000 was the result of this employer's multiple failures when dismissing a Portuguese care worker with a poor grasp of English for the use of a single inappropriate word in the presence of a member of the public.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Energy supplier fairly dismissed employee recorded telling customer to "bugger off"

  A large energy supplier has successfully defended an employment tribunal claim that it unfairly dismissed a customer services adviser who commonly hung up on customers and was recorded telling one customer to "bugger off".

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Fair dismissal of climbing instructor who "momentarily lost his cool" with customer

  An employee's inappropriate behaviour towards a customer can clearly be a fair reason for dismissal, as the unsuccessful claimant in this tribunal case found out.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Unfair dismissal of bar worker who told customer to "shut up" during argument

  An employee's inappropriate behaviour towards a customer is not necessarily a fair reason for dismissal when the surrounding circumstances are taken into account, as the employer in this tribunal case found out.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Case round-up

  Joe Beeston, Kate Edminson, Rosie Kight and David Rintoul are associate solicitors and Iain Naylor is a trainee solicitor at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. They round up the latest rulings. They round up the latest rulings.

• Type:

  Employment law cases

  Unfair dismissal: EAT considers required level of investigation into misconduct

  The Employment Appeal Tribunal has reiterated the importance of employers carrying out a sufficiently thorough disciplinary investigation where there are allegations of criminal behaviour.