Ms L Crossman v Walsh Solicitors HELD AT: Manchester — 2024

The claimant, a criminal litigation solicitor employed by Walsh Solicitors from 31 October 2016 until her dismissal on 29 April 2021, brought complaints of unfair dismissal (both ordinary and automatic for asserting a statutory right), wrongful dismissal, unlawful deduction from wages and breach of the right to be accompanied. The dismissal followed allegations of misconduct relating to a Facebook account, variation of account details and handling of client data during her notice period after she had resigned.

The Tribunal found that the claimant did assert a statutory right on 2 March 2021 by informing Ms Walsh she had not been paid overtime and holiday pay, but held this was not the reason or principal reason for her dismissal, so the s.104 ERA 1996 complaint failed. The complaint of ordinary unfair dismissal under Part X ERA 1996 succeeded; the Tribunal directed that any compensatory award be subject to a 15% uplift under s.124A ERA 1996 and a 10% reduction for contributory conduct under s.123(6) ERA 1996. The wrongful dismissal claim was also well founded.

On the wages claims, deductions complaints at paragraph IV(i) and (ii) were dismissed as out of time under s.23 ERA 1996, while paragraph IV(iii) succeeded in the agreed sum of £194.70 following the respondent's concession. The Tribunal concluded that splitting the disciplinary meeting from a separate 'data' meeting was artificial and that the claimant's companion Ms Farooq should not have been asked to leave, amounting to a breach of s.10 ERelA 1999. Quantification of remaining loss was deferred to a separate remedy hearing.