Mr Brian Gregory v Mr Peter Howett trading as British Meat — 2025

The tribunal found that the complaint of unfair dismissal was well-founded and that the respondent unfairly dismissed the claimant. The judgment was given orally at a two-day hearing in Reading on 27 and 28 May 2025 before Employment Judge Harrison, with both parties appearing in person.

In assessing remedy, the tribunal applied a 50% Polkey adjustment, finding there was a 50% chance the claimant would have been fairly dismissed had a fair procedure been followed. A 10% uplift was applied to the compensatory award under section 207A(2) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 for the respondent's failure to follow the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. The tribunal also considered it just and equitable to reduce both the basic and compensatory awards by 50% because of the claimant's conduct before the dismissal.

The respondent was ordered to pay a basic award of £8,963 and a compensatory award of £1,059. The compensatory loss was calculated from commuting expenses (£1,750), one week of lost paid holiday (£747) and lost employer pension contributions over two years (£1,353), before the Polkey, ACAS and contribution adjustments were applied.