EAT Unfair Dismissal: Contributory Fault – Polkey deduction
The Claimant succeeded on an unfair dismissal claim.
The Employment Judge made a finding of serious misconduct against him in the context of considering a Polkey/conduct reduction and a claim of wrongful dismissal.
That finding was based on reasoning which was flawed and inadequate in three ways which amounted to an error of law:
(1) The Employment Judge failed to spell out exactly what the misconduct was and consequently failed to address or even acknowledge the full consequences of his finding;
(2) The Employment Judge relied in part on a particular factual matter which was agreed on all sides to be wrong and arose from an error made by the Respondent’s Counsel;
(3) The Employment Judge relied on a matter in the course of his reasoning which, although it could have properly been taken into account in considering the Claimant’s credibility, was not directly relevant to the serious misconduct in question.
The matter should be remitted to another Employment Judge.
Shanks HHJ
[2014] UKEAT 0529 – 13 – 2811
Bailii
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.541543