Mr G Scowen v Doors Wales Warehouse Limited — 2020

The claimant, Mr G Scowen, was employed as a joiner/carpenter from 1 October 2010 until 26 September 2019. The tribunal found that the dispute on 26 September 2019 arose after Mr Maggs was already frustrated about two jobs, the Ivy Cottage doors and the Beading Doors. It found that the discussion that triggered the claimant being told to leave related more likely than not to the Beading Doors, and that Mr Maggs told the claimant to leave the joinery and, in the heat of the moment, said words to the effect of "You're sacked".

On that basis the tribunal held that the claimant had been expressly dismissed, or in any event effectively dismissed when told to leave. The respondent had not advanced a fair dismissal case once dismissal was found, and the tribunal concluded there was no potentially fair reason proved under section 98 ERA 1996. It also held that there had been no process leading to termination, so there was no Polkey reduction. The claimant's refusal to cut the aperture on the Beading Doors was found to be unreasonable and contributed to the dismissal, and the tribunal assessed contributory fault at 50%.

The tribunal therefore upheld unfair dismissal but reduced both the basic award and the compensatory award by 50%. It awarded a basic award of £2,754 and a compensatory award of £1,039.50, with the compensatory loss limited to the period to the end of December 2019 because the tribunal found the claimant had by then chosen to retire and had not shown that later losses were caused by the dismissal. The tribunal declined to award any sum for loss of statutory rights and declined an ACAS uplift.

The wrongful dismissal claim also succeeded because the tribunal found no conduct or performance issue serious enough to justify summary dismissal, so the claimant was entitled to 8 weeks' notice pay. The unlawful deduction claim succeeded because the respondent withheld 4 days' wages for 23 to 26 September 2019 without contractual authority. The claims for failure to provide written reasons for dismissal and failure to provide written particulars also succeeded, with awards of two weeks' pay on each claim.