Miss N Plant v Bridge Medical Solutions Limited HELD: at Leeds by Cloud Video Platform (CVP) — 2023

Miss N Plant was employed by Bridge Medical Solutions Limited as a support worker from 6 April 2019 until her dismissal on 25 November 2022. The tribunal found that on 25 November 2022 there was a WhatsApp exchange between staff and management in which the claimant used the expression "vile" in a way that Sophie Beresford understood to refer to her and her parents. The claimant said the remark related to a separate conversation on another social medium, but she could not produce evidence of that separate exchange or give a clear explanation of who she had been referring to.

The tribunal accepted that the immediate pressure on the respondent came from the Beresford family. After Sophie Beresford complained, the registered manager, Miss Alison Little, received calls from Susan Beresford and David Beresford making clear that James Beresford would be taken away from the respondent if the claimant remained employed. The tribunal found that the real reason for dismissal was not misconduct but some other substantial reason within section 98(1)(b) ERA 1996, namely third party pressure on the respondent to dismiss the claimant.

The tribunal then considered reasonableness under section 98(4) ERA 1996. It noted that the respondent did not follow its own disciplinary procedure, including not interviewing the claimant before dismissal, and referred to Polkey. However, it concluded that following the procedure would have been futile because the Beresford family would not have the claimant back and the respondent could not find her another position. In those circumstances the tribunal held that the dismissal was fair and dismissed the unfair dismissal claim.