Unfair dismissal
Victoria Bell is managing associate and Gerri Hurst, Carly Mather and Andrew Nealey are associates and Eleanor Cittern is a trainee solicitor at Addleshaw Goddard LLP.
Should a hotel have allowed an employee to withdraw a resignation letter that she wrote while agitated during a routine meeting to assess a "mystery-shopper" visit? That was the issue in this employment tribunal.
This constructive dismissal claim against a fashion retailer was unsuccessful, but it does reveal some of the difficulties that can arise when employers in this sector require their staff to project a particular image.
Colin Makin, Krishna Santra, Linda Quinn and Sandra Martins are senior associates and Melissa Powys-Rodrigues is an associate at Colman Coyle Solicitors. They round up the latest rulings.
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.
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".
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.
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.
This employment tribunal decision shows that there is nothing to stop a transferee from disciplining a transferred employee who is alleged to have committed misconduct before the transfer.
This employment tribunal punished a large employer's failure to follow the "Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures" by awarding a combined total of over £100,000 to two claimants who were unfairly dismissed.
HR and legal information and guidance relating to unfair dismissal.