Mr M Khan v EAT Food Ltd — 2018

The claimant applied on 13 August 2018 for reconsideration of the judgment sent to the parties on 31 July 2018, in which his unfair dismissal complaint had been dismissed. The tribunal refused reconsideration under Rules 72-73 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2013 because the application raised nothing new and simply reargued points already made before the tribunal.

In refusing the application, Employment Judge Bloch QC said there was no reasonable prospect of the earlier decision being varied or revoked. The judgment says the tribunal had already found that a full investigation had been carried out, at least as full as was reasonable in the circumstances, and that there was no basis for revisiting the finding that the respondent genuinely regarded the claimant as guilty of misconduct.

The tribunal also reaffirmed its earlier conclusion that the claimant had not acted in accordance with any common practice outside the respondent's written procedures. It relied in particular on the claimant's previous final warning for taking additional food without permission, which showed he knew permission from a manager was required before removing expiring food, and on the quantity involved, namely three bags of food, which the tribunal said was outside any acceptable practice.

On that basis, the tribunal maintained its view that the respondent was entitled to conclude that the claimant was guilty of gross misconduct and that dismissal was within the range of reasonable responses. It also rejected the suggestion of disparate treatment, saying there was no evidence of other employees who had taken food in the same quantity while knowing it was not permitted.