Mr Rizwan Ali v British Telecommunications plc and 2 others — 2020

The claimant was employed as a customer service advisor working weekend night shifts on a Network Rail contract. The respondent investigated data from building access records, Silverlight attendance records and Harrier telephone software, and concluded that the claimant had left work early or not attended the workplace while remaining logged into Silverlight, and that colleagues had logged each other out. The claimant said he had permission to work from home on occasions, that he was targeted because of a holiday pay grievance, and that the dismissal related to costs or redundancy.

The tribunal found that the grievance was against the business rather than personally against Mr Rideout, and did not accept that Mr Rideout had set up the claimant or that the dismissal was motivated by redundancy or cost saving. It found that the respondent had documentary evidence that the claimant frequently left work early, remained logged in, and on some occasions did not attend the building, without authorisation.

The tribunal held that conduct was the reason for dismissal, that the investigation and appeal were within the range of reasonable responses, and that the absence of HR or an external appeal officer did not make the process unfair. It concluded that the respondent was entitled to regard the conduct as dishonest and as gross misconduct, so the claims for unfair dismissal and notice pay were dismissed.