Miss L Winter v EE Limited — 2023

The claimant was summarily dismissed after the respondent found repeated failures relating to banking discrepancy reports and petty cash procedures. The tribunal accepted that the respondent had a conduct reason for dismissal and that it had reasonable grounds for believing the claimant had failed to follow those procedures and failed to ensure her team did so. It also found there was no allegation or finding that the claimant had taken money or acted dishonestly.

The unfair dismissal claim succeeded because the dismissal decision was outside the band of reasonable responses. The tribunal found that the claimant had put her poor mental health forward as a factor explaining her conduct and relevant to sanction, but the respondent did not properly consider whether it had affected her conduct and did not seek medical input before deciding that she had chosen to ignore policies and could not be trusted. The appeal did not remedy that issue.

The wrongful dismissal claim also succeeded. The tribunal found the claimant's failures were negligent and merited disciplinary sanction, but were not wilful, dishonest, or gross negligence, and were not so grave and weighty as to justify summary dismissal. For unfair dismissal remedy, the tribunal held that the compensatory award should be reduced by 20% for the chance of a fair dismissal and by a further 50% for contributory conduct, with the basic award reduced by 50%, but listed remedy issues for later determination if not agreed.