EAT UNFAIR DISMISSAL
Procedural fairness/automatically unfair dismissal
S.98A(2) ERA
Polkey deduction
The employee was told at a meeting that he or his post would be made redundant at a meeting; but he was not then made redundant; further meetings followed before he was given notice of dismissal. The Employment Tribunal found (1) that the dismissal was automatically unfair because that meeting did not comply with the Step 2 requirements and there had not been a Step 1 complaint letter (2) that the dismissal was substantively unfair (3) that there was no evidence and only assertion that the employer would have been dismissed anyway.
Held on appeal :
(1) (i) The ET erred in law in failing to consider the subsequent meetings prior to the dismissal in deciding that Step 2 was not complied with; no action was taken before these meetings; the Employment Tribunal was bound to pay heed to them. The meaning of ‘action taken’ discussed and decided.
(ii) The ET erred in setting too high a standard for the requirements of a Step 1 letter; they failed to consider the guidance on that topic in Alexander v Bridgen.
(2) The Employment Tribunal were entitled to find the dismissal substantively unfair; there was no error of law.
(3) There was evidence, oral and documentary to support the employer’s case that the employee was not suitable for the only post in which he was interested. The Tribunal erred in law in concluding to the contrary.
Claim remitted on issues (1) and (3) to a fresh Employment Tribunal.
Citations:
[2009] UKEAT 0245 – 08 – 0503
Links:
Statutes:
Employment Rights Act 1996 98A(2)
Citing:
Cited – Software 2000 Ltd v Andrews etc EAT 17-Jan-2007
EAT Four employees successfully established before the Employment Tribunal that they had been unfairly dismissed for redundancy. The Tribunal found that there had been procedural defects. In particular the . .
Cited by:
Distinguished – Roberts v Acumed Ltd EAT 25-Nov-2010
roberts_acumedEAT10
EAT UNFAIR DISMISSAL
Reason for dismissal including substantial other reason
Reasonableness of dismissal
Procedural fairness/automatically unfair dismissal
The Claimant area sales manager . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 23 July 2022; Ref: scu.317868