Ms M Jones v Vale Curtains and Blinds — 2024

Ms M Jones was employed by Vale Curtains and Blinds as a part-time administrator from 6 May 2021 until her dismissal on 19 June 2023. The tribunal accepted that she mistakenly replied to a customer email rather than forwarding it to a colleague, causing an offensive message to be sent to the customer. It found that the customer and his wife then threatened to publicise the incident, including on social media and Trustpilot, and that the principal reason for the decision to dismiss was those threats and the concern about bad publicity, not a conduct-based reason.

The tribunal found that the dismissal decision had effectively already been taken by Mr Johnson and that Mrs Smith then put it into effect. It rejected the respondent's evidence that Mr Gibbons had investigated the matter and found that the process was not a genuine investigation or disciplinary process. The claimant was not given a fair opportunity to be accompanied or to prepare, was not shown the disciplinary policy before the hearing, was not told in advance what rule she had breached, and was denied a real appeal. The tribunal held that the dismissal was outside the range of reasonable responses and therefore unfair.

On remedy, the tribunal held that if a fair procedure had been followed there was no chance the claimant would still have been dismissed, so no Polkey reduction was made. It found 10% contributory fault because the claimant had sent the offensive email and had been careless in replying rather than forwarding it, but it did not treat her refusal to apologise as contributory fault. The claimant's gross weekly pay was £260.77, she had two years' continuous service, and the basic award was calculated at £521.54.

For compensation, the tribunal awarded loss of earnings from dismissal on 19 June 2023 until she started work at the Co-op on 13 November 2023, totalling £5,214.67, plus £300 for loss of statutory rights. It made no award for the later period after she resigned from the Co-op on 21 January 2024, finding that she had not taken reasonable steps to mitigate her loss. After the 10% contributory fault reduction, the compensatory award was £4,963.20 and the total award was £5,484.74.