Mr Oumar Akram v , Solicitor Lanarkshire Enterprise Services Limited — 2021

Mr Akram was employed by Lanarkshire Enterprise Services Limited as a DYW Development Executive. In September and October 2020 he was involved in identifying employer contacts for the Kickstart Scheme and then referred those contacts to the Wise Group. The tribunal found that, during a telephone conversation on 1 October 2020, he asked for a fee for the transfer of employer contacts and indicated that the fee was to be paid to him personally rather than to his employer.

The tribunal accepted the Respondent's evidence that it genuinely believed Mr Akram had committed misconduct, had reasonable grounds for that belief, and carried out a reasonable investigation in the circumstances. It found that the Claimant had not been authorised to request a finder’s fee for himself, that he accepted at the disciplinary stage that he had made a huge mistake, and that the Respondent was entitled to regard the conduct as serious. Although the Respondent did not follow the contractual disciplinary route in Clause 14.2 of the contract, the tribunal held that the procedure used complied with the ACAS Code of Practice and that the contractual breach did not make the dismissal unfair.

Applying section 98 of the ERA and the band of reasonable responses approach, the tribunal held that the reason for dismissal was conduct within section 98(2)(b), and that dismissal fell within the range of reasonable responses open to a reasonable employer. It therefore found that the Respondent acted reasonably in treating the conduct as a sufficient reason for dismissal and dismissed the unfair dismissal claim. The tribunal noted that notice had been paid as a goodwill gesture, but there was no compensation award because the claim failed.