Ms Sheila Shokuhi v University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust — 2023

Ms Sheila Shokuhi was employed as a consultant breast surgeon from 1 February 2009 until her summary dismissal on 25 July 2022. The tribunal heard the protected disclosure issue first and decided that the grievance made on 13 November 2019 was not a protected disclosure, so the detriment and automatic unfair dismissal claims failed at that stage.

On the unfair dismissal claim, the tribunal found that the respondent dismissed her because it believed she had committed misconduct. It accepted that the investigations carried out by Mr Walters and Ms Pugh were thorough and that they provided reasonable grounds for the disciplinary and appeal panels to rely on the emails, text messages, voicemail and other material before them. Applying s.98(4) ERA 1996, the Burchell test and the range of reasonable responses approach, the tribunal held that the respondent had a genuine belief on reasonable grounds after a reasonable investigation and that dismissal for conduct was fair.

On the contract claims, the tribunal found that the claimant had committed gross misconduct justifying summary dismissal. It relied in particular on allegation 17 and on later communications, including the 9 January 2020 email and the 15 October 2020 voicemail, and concluded that the behaviour was sufficient both individually and cumulatively to undermine trust and confidence. The tribunal found that she had not been formally suspended, had been given significant time on full pay to prepare her case, and had no contractual entitlement to reinstatement or to pay between dismissal and the appeal rehearing outcome on 8 August 2023. The appeal panel reheard the matter, fully upheld 64 allegations and partially upheld 2, but that did not change the outcome. The tribunal also noted that some allegations should have been dealt with sooner, but held that this did not affect the fairness of the dismissal. All claims were dismissed and no award was made.