Unfair dismissal
In BS v Dundee City Council [2014] IRLR 131 CS, the Court of Session found that a tribunal failed to address crucial questions in deciding whether or not an employee had been fairly dismissed for long-term absence and had been wrong to assume that the employee's length of service was a relevant consideration. Long service was relevant only insofar as it could lead to the inference that the employee was a good worker who would return to work as soon as possible.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal agreed with an employment tribunal that emails sent by the claimant taken together were capable of amounting to qualifying disclosures, even though the emails were sent to different individuals in different departments.
In this case, a charity fairly dismissed two whistleblowing employees for the manner in which they had raised their concerns.
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.
HR and legal information and guidance relating to unfair dismissal.