Claire Parker-Paphitis v Knight Classical Ltd. — 2021

Claire Parker-Paphitis worked for Knight Classical Ltd as a senior artist manager from August 2007 until she was summarily dismissed on 11 December 2020. The tribunal heard that she had undertaken external consultancy work for Danny Driver and Ekaterina Apekisheva, using company email, and had shared contact spreadsheets that included some contacts from the respondent's databases. The tribunal found that some of the information sent to Danny Driver was in the sole possession of the respondent and not in the public domain, and that the claimant had also acted for KA without asking permission of the respondent, despite previously seeking permission for the Danny Driver work.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal held that the reason for dismissal was the claimant's conduct. It found the investigation was straightforward, that the claimant was given the allegations and supporting documents in advance, was told of her right to be accompanied, and was given a fair hearing and a right of appeal. Although the appeal was heard by Miss Knight, who had already been involved in the matter, the tribunal accepted her evidence that she had considered alternative options and held that, in a small company with limited resources, this was within the band of reasonable responses.

On substance, the tribunal found it was open to Ms Griggs to conclude that the claimant was guilty of the two misconduct charges. It held that sharing contact details with DD breached the confidentiality clause, and that doing paid work for KA without prior consultation breached the competition clause. The tribunal concluded that dismissal was a permissible sanction and that the appeal decision to uphold dismissal was also permissible.

The wrongful dismissal claim also failed. The tribunal found that the claimant's sharing of confidential information amounted to a serious breach of contract and that the confidentiality clause made clear such disclosure could lead to termination. Because she was in breach of a fundamental term, she forfeited the right to rely on the contractual notice provisions. The proceedings were therefore dismissed in full.