Mr M Cooper v National Crime Agency — 2020

The tribunal reconsidered the unfair dismissal claim following remission from the Employment Appeal Tribunal, as affirmed by the Court of Appeal. The remitted issue was narrow: whether the respondent had acted unfairly in refusing to postpone the disciplinary process because of the claimant’s concern that information from the internal process might be passed to the police and prejudice his criminal proceedings.

The tribunal held that the original disciplinary panel had been given no adequate reason to adjourn. The claimant did not attend the disciplinary hearing, did not renew his adjournment application there, and had not raised the specific information-sharing concern before that panel. In relation to the appeal hearing, the tribunal accepted that the claimant’s representative did raise a concern about information-sharing, but found that the point was expressed only tentatively and without a clear explanation of how prejudice would arise.

The tribunal found that this added little to the general argument that the internal process should await the criminal case. It relied on the reassurance given by Mr Kerr that nothing from the internal process would prejudice the criminal proceedings and noted that this was not challenged by the claimant’s representative. Weighing that against the respondent’s entitlement to proceed with its own disciplinary process and the delay that further postponement would have caused, the tribunal concluded that the respondent’s decision remained within the range of reasonable responses. The unfair dismissal claim therefore failed and the proceedings stood dismissed.