Mr J Tait v Pizza Express Restaurants Limited — 2020

Mr J Tait worked as a waiter at the respondent's Gosforth restaurant from 1 January 2011 until his summary dismissal on 15 February 2019. The only live claim at hearing was unfair dismissal, because earlier complaints of disability and race discrimination had been withdrawn. The dismissal arose from an incident on 12 January 2019 when the claimant queried a rota after believing he had been granted a week's holiday from 14 January.

The tribunal found that the respondent's investigation was unreasonable. It accepted that the claimant had become frustrated and had raised his voice, but found no proper evidence that he had waved the rota in Laura Bell's face or that his voice was threatening or intimidating. It also found that the investigation strayed beyond fact-finding, used leading questions, and relied on an inaccurate reference to a non-existent "violence at work" policy. The tribunal considered that Miss McEntee had effectively moved from investigating the facts to advancing a case for gross misconduct.

The disciplinary process was also found to be flawed. Mr Gray did not properly frame the allegations, later added matters such as chair-slamming and intimidation, and recorded that "shouting is deemed as workplace violence", which the tribunal said was plainly wrong. On the tribunal's findings, there was no genuine and reasonable basis for concluding that the claimant had committed gross misconduct, and dismissal fell outside the range of reasonable responses. The tribunal held that the dismissal was unfair under sections 94 and 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The tribunal also found that the claimant had contributed to his dismissal because he accepted that he raised his voice, was inappropriate, and may have made unnecessary noise in moving chairs. It reduced compensation by 35% for contributory conduct. After those findings, the parties agreed compensation of £9,000, comprising a basic award of £2,813.15 and a compensatory award of £6,186.85.