Ms Mary Arofah v Midcounties Co-Operative Ltd — 2022

Ms Mary Arofah was employed by The Midcounties Co-operative Limited as a senior childcare practitioner at a nursery. The dispute arose from an incident on 11 January 2022 involving a three-year-old child, S. After S's mother reported finger marks and a thumb print on S's face, Ms Williams reviewed CCTV footage and found the claimant moved S to one side, placed a full hand over S's face and pushed her head back. The claimant said she was checking for a sticker or otherwise playing, but she did not give a clear explanation at the hearing.

Ms Williams carried out the investigation, spoke to colleagues, consulted the local authority LADO and suspended the claimant. Ms Blaney then conducted the disciplinary process, viewed the CCTV, considered the claimant's explanations, her apology, her experience and the fact that she had a live verbal warning on file. She concluded that the conduct amounted to gross misconduct and dismissed the claimant summarily on 2 February 2022. The dismissal letter was emailed but not sent by post, and the claimant said she did not receive it, so she did not appeal.

The tribunal held that misconduct was the genuine reason for dismissal, that the investigation was reasonable, and that Ms Blaney made her own decision independently. It rejected the claimant's case that she had been targeted by Ms Williams, that the process was predetermined, or that the dismissal was tainted by a racist undertone. Applying s.98(4) ERA 1996 and the range of reasonable responses test, the tribunal found the dismissal fair.

On wrongful dismissal, the tribunal found that the claimant's conduct towards S was serious enough to undermine trust and confidence in a senior childcare role. It held that the claimant had breached the respondent's safeguarding and conduct policies and that summary dismissal was justified. Both the unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal claims were dismissed, and no monetary award was made.