Unfair dismissal
David Malamatenios is a partner, and Krishna Santra, Sandra Martins and Colin Makin are senior associates at Colman Coyle Solicitors. They round up the latest rulings.
An employment tribunal has found that an employee was unfairly dismissed for circulating to colleagues a document about proposed changes to his company's pension scheme, which he found on a shared drive.
An employment tribunal has held that an NHS trust unfairly dismissed an employee who was reported for coming to work smelling of alcohol, without further evidence that he was unfit for work.
In Thomson v Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust EAT/0218/14, the EAT upheld an employment tribunal's ruling that a conduct dismissal was unfair because the chair of the disciplinary panel had no training or experience in the role, and he impermissibly dismissed for what amounted to serious but not gross misconduct. The employee had, however, failed to establish that there was any failure to make reasonable adjustments.
An employment tribunal has held that the dismissal of a long-serving employee who was reported for using his mobile phone while driving in his own car into a workplace car park was unfair.
An employment tribunal has held that the dismissal of a bus driver who was seen holding his mobile phone while exiting a bus stand, in breach of the employer's very strict and clearly communicated mobile phone rules, was fair.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that an employer was not obliged to put the disciplinary process on hold until the employee's grievance had been investigated.
An employment tribunal has struck out whistleblowing claims brought by an individual who argued that he made a protected disclosure when he complained that his line manager had been rude to a colleague. The claimant did not reasonably believe that he was making the disclosure "in the public interest".
The Court of Appeal has revisited the issue of warnings and confirmed that a warning given in bad faith cannot be relied on to justify a dismissal.
HR and legal information and guidance relating to unfair dismissal.