Mr A Quinn v Mabey Hire Ltd — 2020

Mr A Quinn was employed by Mabey Hire Limited from 2 February 1988 until his summary dismissal on 23 May 2019. The tribunal found that the respondent dismissed him for conduct, based on repeated health and safety breaches in late April and early May 2019. Those matters included the use of a road plate on a forklift truck, using a grinding disc to cut rubber, placing a hammer head on a roller door, and a ram found to be inadequately cleaned and tagged as available; the tribunal also considered allegations about stacking panels and PPE. It found that Mr Williams and Mr Kemp had a genuine belief that the claimant had committed misconduct and that belief was supported by reasonable grounds after investigation.

Applying section 98(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the authorities it cited, including Burchell, Iceland Frozen Foods, Polkey and Graham, the tribunal held that the dismissal fell within the range of reasonable responses. It accepted that some parts of the investigation could have been fuller, but found that the claimant had been given repeated opportunities at the disciplinary and appeal stages to answer the allegations, and that the appeal process did not undermine the fairness of the dismissal. The tribunal therefore dismissed the unfair dismissal claim.

On the contractual notice claim, the tribunal held that the road plate, grinder, hammer head and ram matters each amounted, even separately, to a repudiatory breach of contract entitling the respondent to terminate without notice. It therefore dismissed the breach of contract complaint. The judgment was on liability only and made no monetary award. The ET1 reference to a redundancy payment was withdrawn at the start of the hearing and the judgment also stated, in the alternative, that any such claim was dismissed.