Mr C Adomako-Mensah v The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs — 2018

The claimant was dismissed after the respondent applied its Managing Poor Performance procedure. The tribunal found that the performance improvement plans and warnings related to the work the claimant was employed to do, that the standards set were not unreasonably high, and that the respondent had made genuine efforts to assess his performance and any improvement.

The tribunal rejected the claimant's arguments that the process was unfair because of bias by Mr Christou or Mr Patel, because his work had improved, or because he should have been moved to another post. It found that the respondent had investigated the claimant's grievance, had no suitable vacant post to move him into, and was not acting unreasonably by retaining Mr Christou as line manager or later arranging for Mr Patel to conduct performance discussions.

The tribunal found that Mr Patel genuinely believed the claimant's performance was inadequate, had reasonable grounds for that belief, and had followed a fair and reasonable procedure before dismissal. It also found that Ms Houston-Wood approached the appeal with an open mind and reasonably upheld the dismissal. The claim therefore failed and the remedy hearing was cancelled.