Case 3331950/2018 · Employment Tribunal
Mr C Murray v Muller UK and Ireland LLP — 2019
- Case reference
- 3331950/2018
- Decision date
- 17 September 2019
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Michell REPRESENTATION
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Mr C Murray
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe claimant was summarily dismissed for gross misconduct after a complaint from a Tesco store manager about events during a delivery. The respondent found that the claimant had told the manager words to the effect of "you’re not getting your fucking milk today", had driven off without making the delivery, and had shown two Tesco staff a video from his phone. The claimant disputed the complaint and alleged that the manager had been confrontational.
The tribunal found that there were procedural deficiencies, including excessive delay at the final appeal stage and some further enquiries that could usefully have been made. However, it held that those matters did not render the dismissal unfair. The tribunal found that it was within the range of reasonable responses for the respondent to believe the claimant had made the statement about the delivery, that the conduct amounted to gross misconduct justifying dismissal, and that the claimant's comparator arguments did not show unfair disparity.
The tribunal concluded that the dismissal was fair under s.98(4) ERA. It also stated that, even if the dismissal had been unfair because of procedural issues, those issues would have made no material difference under Polkey principles, and it would have found the claimant wholly to blame for his dismissal by reason of his conduct.
Claims and outcomes
1 finding recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unfair dismissal | The claimant's representative confirmed that no wrongful dismissal claim was made. The tribunal dismissed the unfair dismissal claim. | Dismissed | — | — |
Legal tests applied
16 references- s.98(4) ERA 1996
- band of reasonable responses
- London Ambulance Service NHS Trust v Small
- Connolly v Western Health and Social Care Trust
- Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd v Hitt
- Santamera v Express Cargo Forwarding t/a IEC Ltd
- Rajendra Shrestha v Genesis Housing Association Limited
- Meyer Dunmore International Ltd v Rogers
- Paul v East Surrey District Health Authority
- Hadjioannou v Coral Casinos Ltd
- MBNA v Jones
- Securicor Ltd v Smith
- Scottish Prison Service v Laing
- s.123(6) ERA 1996
- s.122(2) ERA 1996
- Polkey v AE Dayton Services Ltd
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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