Mr R Cooper Mr D Adamson v Royal Mail Group Limited — 2019

The claimants were dismissed for alleged unexcused delay to mail and alleged failure to follow the correct procedure after mail from their delivery was not delivered and was later found in dropdown trays. The Tribunal found there was no dispute that they had failed to contact the office to report the missing mail, and that the respondent had carried out sufficient investigation into the factual circumstances for the purposes of the Burchell test.

The Tribunal held, however, that dismissal was outside the range of reasonable responses. It found that no training on this issue had been undertaken, local arrangements suggesting employees should ring in if mail was missing had not been brought to employees' attention, and the appeal interviews did not establish a hard and fast rule known to staff requiring an immediate call in the circumstances that occurred.

The Tribunal also considered the surrounding circumstances, including concerns about the conduct of LW and evidence that mail may on occasions have gone back to Manchester. It accepted the importance of mail delivery to the respondent's business, but was not satisfied that dismissal was justified within the range of potential sanctions in the respondent's own conduct framework. Remedy and contributory conduct were left for a further hearing.