EAT UNFAIR DISMISSAL – Reasonableness of dismissal
Dismissal of a prison officer for assault on a prisoner – Tribunal holds dismissal unfair because of (a) failures to ‘probe’ alleged inconsistencies in the evidence; (b) unreasonable application of a ‘zero tolerance’ approach; and (c) the cursory nature of the appeal process
Appeal allowed –
Held:
(a) The Respondent was entitled to conclude that the allegedly inconsistent evidence was reliable, and in holding otherwise the Tribunal wrongly substituted its own view
(b) The Respondent’s approach was justifiably strict but did not require automatic dismissal whatever the circumstances.
(c) The appeal process, which was in the nature of a review, could not properly be described as ‘cursory’.
Judges:
Underhill P J
Citations:
[2011] UKEAT 0401 – 10 – 0104
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 06 September 2022; Ref: scu.431880