Ms Jacqueline Broughton v Vesta Road Surgery — 2026

The Tribunal dismissed Ms Jacqueline Broughton's unlawful deduction from wages claim. Although some records referred to her as a Nurse Practitioner after she completed further qualifications in 2015, she did not prove on the balance of probabilities that Vesta Road Surgery had formally promoted her from Practice Nurse. There was no contemporaneous confirmation of a promotion, contractual variation, revised job description, agreed salary increase or remuneration structure. The Tribunal also found that, even if a promotion had occurred, no contractual entitlement to higher pay had been established. An acknowledged historic payroll error had been corrected and the outstanding sum paid.

The Tribunal found that the reason for Ms Broughton's dismissal was conduct, based on the respondent's conclusions about her management and monitoring of medication and clinical stock, including expired items in the nursing room and emergency drugs cupboard and stock-check records she had signed. The Tribunal did not find that Ms Broughton deliberately stored expired medication or that she was necessarily responsible for every item, accepted that other people had access to the relevant areas, and did not treat her disposal of expired medication as evidence of deliberate wrongdoing. Applying the Burchell principles, however, it found that the respondent genuinely believed she had committed misconduct, had reasonable grounds for that belief and had undertaken a reasonable investigation.

The Tribunal identified procedural shortcomings, including information being given to external HR consultants before Ms Broughton was spoken to in detail. It found that these deficiencies were cured during the subsequent disciplinary and appeal process because she received the substance of the evidence, understood the allegations and had opportunities to challenge the evidence, present her account and appeal. Although another reasonable employer might have acted more leniently or made further enquiries, the decision to dismiss did not fall outside the band of reasonable responses. The unfair dismissal claim was therefore dismissed, all claims failed, and no monetary remedy was recorded.