In person For the v Respondent — 2019

The claimant was employed by a predecessor from 29 May 2016 and transferred to the respondent under TUPE on 16 October 2017. He was dismissed with immediate effect on 10 October 2019 for gross misconduct arising from an incident on 26 September 2019 in the canteen/break area involving a colleague, Mr Maxwell Saani. The tribunal first dealt with a strike-out application based on alleged non-compliance with case management orders, but declined to strike out the claim and heard it on the merits.

On the facts, the tribunal accepted that the exchange between the claimant and Mr Saani began as banter, but found that the claimant became angry and aggressive when criticised about his driving. It found that the claimant poked Mr Saani in the head three times, asked him to fight, and made offensive remarks about Mr Saani’s family and race. The tribunal rejected the claimant’s suggestion that Mr Harris was trying to engineer his dismissal.

The tribunal found that the reason for dismissal was gross misconduct, as set out in the disciplinary outcome letter: aggressive and bullying behaviour involving physical contact and offensive remarks. It found that Mr Turner genuinely believed that reason, that there were reasonable grounds for that belief after a reasonable investigation, and that the respondent acted reasonably in treating the conduct as sufficient reason for dismissal. It also found that the conduct fell within the handbook definition of gross misconduct as including physical violence or aggressive behaviour.

The tribunal concluded that the dismissal was not outside the range of reasonable responses of a reasonable employer. The claimant had been offered an appeal, which was heard by Mr Wouderg and rejected. The tribunal held that the dismissal was neither procedurally nor substantively unfair, and the unfair dismissal claim was dismissed.