Alexandru Milea v DHL Services Limited — 2022

The claimant was summarily dismissed for gross misconduct following an incident with a colleague during and after a work journey. The tribunal found procedural unfairness in the dismissal process, including that the disciplinary and appeal outcomes did not make a necessary finding about who started the physical altercation, and that the appeal did not properly reconsider whether summary dismissal was the appropriate sanction.

The tribunal accepted that the respondent had reasonable grounds for some misconduct findings, including use of a mobile phone while driving and the conclusion that stopping on the hard shoulder was not an emergency for disciplinary purposes. It did not find that all procedural irregularities affected fairness, and it found that the respondent's failure to obtain CCTV was not a significant issue because the footage would have had limited evidential value.

For remedy, the tribunal found an 85% chance that the claimant would still have been fairly dismissed if a fair process had been followed, and reduced compensation accordingly. It also found the claimant's use of a mobile phone while driving was culpable conduct contributing to dismissal and reduced both the basic and compensatory awards by 50%. The breach of contract/wrongful dismissal complaint was dismissed because the tribunal found gross misconduct in the claimant starting the physical altercation and using a mobile phone while driving without an emergency justification.