Mr Shaun Rodwell v Openreach Ltd — 2022

The claimant was dismissed after installing a drop wire directly under high voltage electricity cables while working at a customer site. The tribunal found that the respondent's rules prohibited running a drop wire under voltage above 11kV and that the claimant had been trained on working in the vicinity of overhead power, risk assessments and separation distances. It accepted the respondent's evidence that its safety rules used wider margins than National Grid and that the claimant's actions breached those rules.

On the breach of contract claim, the tribunal found the claimant's failure to carry out a satisfactory risk assessment and laying the drop wire under high voltage was a serious breach of his duties, or alternatively gross negligence. It concluded this amounted to gross misconduct and a fundamental breach of contract, so the respondent was entitled to dismiss without notice.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal found the reason for dismissal was conduct rather than capability. It found the respondent genuinely believed the claimant had committed misconduct, based on reasonable grounds, following an adequate investigation and disciplinary process. Although it accepted that resignation had been alluded to before the disciplinary hearing, it did not find that dismissal was predetermined, and considered any possible unfairness would have been cured by the appeal. The tribunal found there was a rational basis for treating the claimant differently from the assisting engineer and that, although dismissal was at the harsher end of the scale, it was within the range of reasonable responses.