The manager of a betting shop took andpound;15 from the shop till for the purpose of gambling; he knew that he would not have been given permission to do so if he had asked. He put an IOU in the till and repaid the money next day. He was summarily dismissed. The employer now appealed against his successful claim in the County Court his action having been found improper and reprehensible but not dishonest.
Held: The appeal suceeded. Although the employer had pleaded dishonesty, it did not matter whether the conduct was labelled as dishonest or not; it was seriously inconsistent and incompatible with the employee’s duty. Sellers LJ said: ‘The whole question is whether that conduct was of such a type that it was inconsistent, in a grave way – incompatible – with the employment in which he had been engaged as a manager.’
Davies LJ said: ‘With the greatest respect to the judge, I think that he fell into error in attaching too much weight to the label and not enough to the facts. The facts were established. The fact that the manager took the money from his employer’s till behind his back knowing that the employer would not consent was established; and it seems to me that it does not really matter very much whether that justifies the label ‘dishonest’ or not The judge ought to have gone on to consider whether even if falling short of dishonesty the manager’s conduct was nevertheless conduct of such a grave and weighty character as to amount to a breach of the confidential relationship between master and servant, such as would render the servant unfit for continuance in the master’s employment and give the master the right to discharge him immediately.’
Sachs LJ referred to the ‘well established law that a servant can be instantly dismissed when his conduct is such that it not only amounts to a wrongful act inconsistent with his duty towards his master but is also inconsistent with the continuance of confidence between them.’
Judges:
Sellers LJ, Davies LJ, Sachs LJ
Citations:
[1967] 2 QB 279
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Fulham Football Club (1987) Ltd v Tigana CA 19-Jul-2005
The defendant had acted as manager of the claimant. The claimant appealed dismissal of its claim for breach of contract and of fiduciary duty, and his claim for payment of sums due under share options granted to him.
Held: The appeal failed. . .
Cited – Neary and Neary v Dean of Westminster 9-Jun-1999
Financial wrong-doing short of dishonesty can be a basis for summary dismissal. Gross misconduct sufficient to justify dismissal must in the particular circumstances so undermine the trust and confidence of an employer that he should no longer be . .
Mentioned – Coulson v Newsgroup Newspapers Ltd QBD 21-Dec-2011
The claimant had been employed by the defendant as editor of a newspaper. On leaving they entered into an agreement which the claimant said required the defendant to pay his legal costs in any action arising regarding his editorship. The defendant . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contract, Employment
Updated: 17 May 2022; Ref: scu.228929