Mr N Marshall v International Airline Group Cargo Limited — 2022

Mr N Marshall brought one claim of unfair dismissal against International Airline Group Cargo Limited. The tribunal accepted that he was dismissed on 31 January 2021 after a restructuring prompted by the COVID-19 downturn, and found that his role of Planning and Business Development Manager was genuinely redundant because the respondent’s requirement for employees had diminished.

The tribunal held that redundancy was the reason for dismissal and a potentially fair reason under section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It found that the respondent had consulted appropriately through collective consultation and an individual consultation meeting, and that the existence of the new Resource Management Planning Executive role did not undermine the redundancy position because it was not a 70% match with the claimant’s former role.

On redeployment, the tribunal found that the claimant was given opportunities to apply for roles in the new structure and that he was not appointed to the Resource Management Planning Executive role because his score on the role-specific question made him unappointable. It found that later applications also did not lead to appointment, that he was interviewed for ULD Logistics Manager but was unsuccessful, and that he declined a part-time offer for that role. The tribunal also found that the scoring and skills-matching exercise was carried out in good faith.

The claimant had raised a grievance about his displacement and the redeployment process. The tribunal considered that the initial grievance handling had some shortcomings, including that some matters were not fully investigated, but found that those defects were cured on appeal by Steven Blunden’s more detailed investigation. Taking the process as a whole, the tribunal concluded that the respondent acted reasonably and that the dismissal was fair, so the unfair dismissal complaint was dismissed.