Mrs H Hodgetts v Compass Group UK & Ireland Ltd — 2020

The claimant was summarily dismissed after allegations concerning management control, financial management, and hygiene and food safety in a school kitchen. The tribunal found that the respondent had taken adequate steps to train the claimant and had previously put support measures in place, including performance improvement plans, removing responsibility for one site while retaining salary, and setting out detailed duties.

On disability discrimination, the tribunal accepted that the claimant had depression but found the respondent did not know and could not reasonably have been expected to know that she was disabled. It found that the April 2016 discussion showed the claimant was experiencing mental health issues at that time, but, in context, was not sufficient to amount to constructive knowledge of disability. The tribunal also found the claimant had not shown how her depression placed her at a substantial disadvantage in relation to the standards required, or what further support should reasonably have been provided.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal found that the respondent dismissed the claimant for conduct and that Mr Cox had an honest and genuine belief, on reasonable grounds after a reasonable investigation, that the allegations were made out. The tribunal considered the financial-control matters to be more capability-related than misconduct, but found it was within the range of reasonable responses to treat the management-control and food-safety matters as gross misconduct, particularly given the claimant's role and final written warning. Although the disciplinary invitation did not state that the allegations were potentially gross misconduct, the tribunal held that this procedural error did not render the dismissal unfair because the claimant did not take part in the process.