Claimant v Home Office — 2020

The claimant was employed by the Home Office until August 2019 and was suspended after his security clearance was withdrawn. The tribunal accepted that the respondent had a potentially fair reason for dismissal, namely some other substantial reason because the claimant could no longer work in the Home Office without the required clearance.

The unfair dismissal claim succeeded because the tribunal found organisational failings in support during suspension and in access to internal Civil Service vacancies. The claimant was denied access to the Civil Service jobs website for substantial periods, line managers did not keep in touch adequately, and earlier failings were not sufficiently remedied before dismissal took effect. Remedy was reserved, with the tribunal identifying issues about what would have happened had the claimant been fairly treated.

The race, religion, disability discrimination and victimisation claims were dismissed. The tribunal found that the handling of the Guaranteed Interview Scheme declaration and subsequent investigation arose from concerns about the application form and not from race, religion, disability, or protected acts. It also found that later litigation-related disclosures, grievance decisions, delay, and lack of assistance were not caused by protected acts.

The tribunal upheld the itemised pay statement complaint only to the extent that August and September 2019 payslips were not provided on or before payment. It found no incorrect particulars and no unnotified deductions in the relevant 13-week period, so no monetary award was made on that issue.