Mr D Hutton v Sodexo Limited — 2022

The tribunal found that the claimant, a Prison Custody Officer employed by Sodexo at HMP Northumberland, had been dismissed because HMPPS refused to reinstate his PCO badge or allow him to work on the prison site, and because no suitable alternative role was found within Sodexo. It accepted that third-party pressure of this kind was capable of amounting to some other substantial reason for dismissal.

The tribunal found there was a procedural injustice because the claimant had no route to appeal the Controller's decision directly, but held that the respondent had taken reasonable steps to mitigate that injustice. It found that the respondent was not required to challenge the Controller's decision in the circumstances, that it made considerable efforts to support the claimant in seeking alternative employment, and that alternatives such as redundancy and ill health retirement were not available on the facts.

The tribunal held that the dismissal process, viewed as a whole including the appeal, was within the band of reasonable responses and was both procedurally and substantively fair. On the wages claim, it applied authority allowing communication of dismissal through a third party and found that the claimant knew of his dismissal on 10 May 2021, so no unauthorised deduction from wages was made.