Mr M Serra v Royal Mail Group Limited — 2021

The claimant was dismissed after the respondent concluded that he had verbally abused his manager on 9 January 2019 and in a telephone call on 12 January 2019. The tribunal found that the dismissal was for misconduct, that the respondent had evidence from relevant witnesses, and that the disciplinary and appeal decision-makers were appropriate. It found the appeal was conducted fairly as a rehearing and that dismissal fell within the range of reasonable responses, given the claimant's conduct and absence of acknowledgement, apology, remorse or remediation.

The tribunal accepted that the manager should not have telephoned the claimant on 12 January 2019, but found that the claimant had asked him to call and was solely responsible for what he said during the call. It found that, even if any procedural flaws had made the dismissal unfair, the claimant would have been dismissed following a fair procedure and any compensation would have been reduced by 100% under Polkey and by 100% for contributory conduct.

On race discrimination, the tribunal found that the relevant witnesses did not know the claimant's Maltese or Italian heritage before the hearing. It found that the alleged handshake incident and alleged tomato boat comment did not occur, that the work van rule was applied to everyone, and that the comparators relied on by the claimant were not true comparators. The tribunal held that the burden of proof did not shift to the respondent, and that even if it had shifted the respondent would have discharged it.