EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 3314803/2019 Held via Cloud Video Platform (CVP) on 10, and November 2020 Employment Judge J D Young Mr G Ramsey v Novograf Limited — 2021

Mr Ramsey had worked for Novograf Ltd since 2006 as an Installation Team Leader. The case arose from workmanship complaints at Travelodge Kings Cross and Co-op Farnborough, where the respondent said rooms and installations completed by his team were substandard and had to be redone at an estimated cost of about £5,000. The tribunal found that the respondent investigated those complaints, sent the claimant the disciplinary material on 6 December 2018, and lawfully moved the matter from an investigation to a disciplinary hearing when the Farnborough issues emerged.

Applying s.98 ERA 1996 and the Burchell approach, the tribunal accepted that the respondent genuinely believed the claimant had been guilty of misconduct and had reasonable grounds for that belief after a reasonable investigation. It also accepted that the claimant was the team leader and that his responsibilities included completion reporting, self-snagging and overall performance of the installation crew. The tribunal rejected the claimant's argument that the dismissal was really about redundancy and found no evidence that redundancy was the real reason for dismissal. The unfair dismissal claim was therefore dismissed, and the related notice pay claim failed because the tribunal found gross misconduct and held that the contract and s.86(6) ERA 1996 permitted summary dismissal without notice.

The tribunal upheld the unlawful deduction from wages claim in respect of two deductions from the final payslip, for alleged private use of the company credit card and a motoring fine, because no evidence was produced to justify those deductions. It awarded £107.58. It also upheld the holiday pay claim, finding that the claimant's holiday entitlement for the year was 35 days, that he had been paid for 10 days, and that 15 days remained outstanding; it awarded £1,975.80 gross for accrued untaken holiday. The judgment did not make any award for unfair dismissal, and the total monetary award ordered was £2,083.38.