Rev. M Burns v The Secretary of State for Justice — 2021

The claimant was employed as an Anglican prison chaplain at HMP Wakefield and was dismissed following a capability process. The tribunal found that the dismissing manager, Mr Wheatley, genuinely believed the claimant was not performing adequately and dismissed him for capability reasons. Although there were procedural faults in the first formal performance meeting, the tribunal found these did not make the overall dismissal unfair, given the wider process, warnings, opportunity to improve, support, appeal rights, and the claimant's participation in the final decision and appeal stages.

The tribunal rejected the argument that Mr Kirwan had set the claimant up to fail or that his motivation should be attributed to the dismissal decision under Jhuti principles. It found that Mr Kirwan had genuine performance concerns over a long period, that others had also observed concerns, and that the claimant was able to put his case before the dismissal and appeal decision-makers. The tribunal accepted that the chaplaincy was an unhappy workplace and that Mr Kirwan had an abrasive management style, but found the performance management process and dismissal were based on genuine and reasonable concerns about performance.

The direct discrimination and harassment claims based on sexual orientation, disability, and religion or belief were dismissed. Many alleged incidents were found not to have happened as alleged, to have been misinterpreted, or to have been unrelated to the relevant protected characteristic. The tribunal also found that the claimant's dismissal was not discriminatory and did not amount to harassment related to any protected characteristic.