Mr A S Centioni v Fire Design Solutions Ltd — 2020

The claimant, Mr A S Centioni, was employed from 31 May 2016 and the employment ended on 15 November 2018. He presented his ET1 on 4 March 2019 after Acas early conciliation, and the tribunal found the claim was presented out of time. Although the claimant relied on ill-health, including a later diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the tribunal found there was insufficient medical evidence to show it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim on time, particularly as he had been able to engage with Acas and there was no adequate explanation for the delay.

On the merits, the respondent relied on conduct as the potentially fair reason for dismissal under section 98 ERA 1996. The allegations included inappropriate swearing, leaving site early on 26 October 2018 and refusing to return when instructed, and discrepancies between timesheets and vehicle tracker records. Applying the Burchell approach, the tribunal found the respondent had a genuine and reasonable belief in misconduct and had carried out a reasonable investigation.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant had used profanities and had left site early and refused to return, but it rejected the conclusion that the timesheet issue amounted to fraud. It found there was no deception element and no financial gain, so describing that aspect as fraud was unreasonable. Even so, the tribunal held that the overall conduct, including the site-leaving incident, refusal to obey the instruction to return, and the swearing, brought dismissal within the range of reasonable responses.

For wrongful dismissal, the tribunal found the same conduct amounted to a repudiatory breach of contract. It held that the respondent was entitled to summarily dismiss and therefore the wrongful dismissal claim also failed. As both dismissal claims were dismissed, the remedy hearing listed for a later date was vacated.