Mr A Riley v Iko plc — 2024

Mr A Riley was dismissed by IKO PLC on 29 February 2024 after an incident on 17 January 2024 involving the MSK machine. The tribunal accepted that the respondent investigated the incident, including CCTV, the accident report, witness material and the claimant's own statement, and that the claimant had admitted in the investigation meeting and disciplinary hearing that he had not followed the lock-out tag-out procedure.

The tribunal found that the reason for dismissal was conduct. It also found that Sarah Mooney had a genuine belief in the misconduct, based on the claimant's admissions, the CCTV footage and the investigation carried out by Chris Nicholson. The tribunal rejected the claimant's case that the real reason was that Ms Mooney had a vendetta against him or that he was on her "hit list".

On fairness, the tribunal held that the investigation was reasonable and that Ms Mooney acted reasonably in adjourning the disciplinary hearing to investigate the claimant's mitigation that he had been rushed. She found that the production line was not running at the material time and that the claimant had been properly trained in the procedure. The tribunal also noted that the claimant had a live final written warning from September 2023, which the respondent was entitled to take into account when deciding on dismissal.

Applying section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Burchell approach, the tribunal concluded that dismissal fell within the range of reasonable responses. The unfair dismissal complaint was therefore dismissed. No monetary award was made.