Mrs M Elwertowska v LHR Airports Limited — 2021

The Claimant was dismissed from her role as Terminal Security Manager after a grenade-shaped object or toy passed through hand baggage screening without a search or passenger profiling. The Tribunal found the Respondent had reasonable grounds to conclude that the Claimant failed to follow the Code 97 procedure and had discussed another employee's disciplinary investigation, but did not have reasonable grounds to conclude that she had falsified reasons for not sanctioning another employee.

The unfair dismissal complaint succeeded because the dishonesty allegation concerning the SA disciplinary outcome was not reasonably investigated or clearly put to the Claimant, and the appeal did not cure that unfairness. The Tribunal nevertheless found a 100% chance that the Claimant would have been dismissed fairly on the security-procedure issue alone, given her senior role and the Respondent's need for confidence in security procedures, so no compensatory award was made.

For remedy, the Tribunal made a basic award only. It reduced the basic award by 60% for the Claimant's serious error of judgment and breach of confidence, then applied a 12.5% ACAS uplift because the Respondent unreasonably failed to notify her properly of the dishonesty allegation. The wrongful dismissal claim failed because the Tribunal found the failure to call Code 97 was a grave and weighty error amounting to gross negligence justifying summary dismissal.