Case 2300794/2018 · Employment Tribunal
(1) Mr G Szymanski (2) Mrs E Szymanska v Fuji Seal Europe Limited — 2019
- Case reference
- 2300794/2018
- Decision date
- 20 November 2019
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Pritchard Representation
- Venue
- Ashford
Parties
2 namedClaimant
(1) Mr G Szymanski (2) Mrs E Szymanska
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe claimants, husband and wife, each brought unfair dismissal claims arising out of the respondent's investigation into the first claimant's sick leave and suspected work for another employer. The tribunal found that the first claimant had been dismissed after the respondent accepted a private investigator's report and related evidence showing him arriving at and leaving the IPL site while he was signed off sick with stress and claiming statutory sick pay. The tribunal accepted that the dismissing manager held a genuine belief in misconduct, that the investigation was within the range of reasonable responses, and that dismissal for the alleged conduct fell within the band of reasonable responses.
Claims and outcomes
2 findings recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unfair dismissal | First claimant: dismissed for gross misconduct after the respondent accepted a private investigator's report that he was working at IPL while signed off sick and claiming statutory sick pay; appeal was not heard because he did not provide fresh evidence, but the tribunal held the dismissal was still fair. | Dismissed | — | — |
| Unfair dismissal | Second claimant: dismissed after the respondent concluded she had assisted her husband in the alleged sick-pay fraud; the tribunal found the decision-maker held a genuine belief on reasonable grounds and that the dismissal remained within the band of reasonable responses. | Dismissed | — | — |
Legal tests applied
11 references- s.98(1) ERA 1996
- s.98(4) ERA 1996
- Burchell test
- W Devis and Sons Ltd v Atkins
- Sainsburys Supermarkets v Hitt
- Iceland Frozen Foods v Jones
- Post Office v Foley
- British Leyland UK Ltd v Swift
- HSBC v Madden
- Taylor v OCS Group Ltd
- ACAS Code of Practice
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
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