Paul Bannon v BAQUS Group Limited — 2022

Paul Bannon was employed by BAQUS Group Limited from 15 September 2003 and was dismissed with effect from 23 September 2020. The tribunal found that the claimant was dismissed by reason of redundancy, and that there was a genuine redundancy situation within section 139 ERA 1996 because the respondent intended to cease or reduce building surveying work at the Chichester office and there had been a material fall in work. The claimant's attempt to suggest that the dismissal was really for another reason, including grievances, was rejected. The tribunal also found that the respondent did not identify any suitable alternative employment, and that a generic consultancy agreement was not an alternative role.

The dismissal was nevertheless found to be unfair under section 98(4) ERA 1996 because of procedural failings in the redundancy exercise. The claimant was not consulted before he was told he was at risk, and the number of redundancies was not communicated until later. The tribunal held that the full sub-criteria used in scoring were not provided to him, so the heading criteria he saw were ambiguous in practice. It also found that the respondent relied on documentation the claimant had not been told about and had no opportunity to address, and that he was disadvantaged because he did not have access to the company IT systems while others in the pool did.

The tribunal accepted that the respondent had consulted with the claimant on some aspects of the process and that his score increased after he made representations, but concluded that the overall application of the criteria was unfair. It also found that Mr McNeill, who was to hear the appeal, had been involved in the earlier decision-making by email on 18 June 2020, so he was not a sufficiently fresh pair of eyes for the appeal stage. The tribunal therefore held that dismissal was unfair, but assessed that there was a 50% chance the claimant would have been fairly dismissed in any event if a fair procedure had been followed. A remedies hearing was listed for 8 September 2022.