Mr Robert Ellis v Dynamometer World Limited — 2021

Mr Robert Ellis brought a single unfair dismissal claim against Dynamometer World Limited. The tribunal, sitting remotely before Employment Judge Kelly alone, found that the respondent dismissed him for misconduct after investigating an enquiry from MH about a Toyota engine and related test-stand equipment, together with concerns about the claimant's email handling and later locking of the company laptop and mobile phone.

The tribunal accepted that MH had contacted the respondent about an engine-related enquiry and that the claimant's notebook referred to a Toyota engine with ECU and loom. It found it was reasonable for the respondent to treat the evidence as suggesting the claimant was dealing with something outside the respondent's normal supply range, and to view the deletion of MH's email and the claimant's limited explanations in the disciplinary process as suspicious. The tribunal also found that the claimant's locking of the company laptop, which prevented the respondent from accessing it for business use, was capable of amounting to gross misconduct; it did not treat the locked mobile phone in the same way on the evidence before it.

Applying section 98 ERA 1996, the Foley band of reasonable responses approach, and the Burchell misconduct test, the tribunal held that the respondent genuinely believed the claimant was guilty of misconduct, had reasonable grounds for that belief, and carried out as much investigation as was reasonable in the circumstances. The unfair dismissal claim was therefore dismissed. The tribunal said it did not need to decide whether the claimant had in fact committed the alleged misconduct, and it made no finding on that question.