Mr Razzaqul Chowdhury v London Borough of Tower Hamlets — 2017

The claimant was dismissed for alleged misconduct relating to his handling of two service users. The tribunal found that conduct was the reason for dismissal and that this was a potentially fair reason under section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The tribunal found that the respondent believed the claimant had failed to act on two safeguarding alerts concerning one service user and had moved another service user to sheltered accommodation without the required assessments and approvals. The underlying conduct was not substantially disputed. The tribunal also found that, although the claimant's inconsistent explanations were in truth the result of confusion and stress rather than untruthfulness, the employer had reasonable grounds at the time for believing he was giving a deliberately misleading account.

The tribunal considered the claimant's long service, unblemished disciplinary record, and personal stress relating to his mother's illness. It described the dismissal decision as very close to the edge of the band of reasonable responses, but concluded that, on the facts as reasonably believed by the employer, dismissal fell within that band and was fair.