Members: Rhona McColl James Burnett Mrs Moira Byers v Represented by:- Mr S John –15 Counsel Comlongon Ltd and 1 other — 2018

Mrs Moira Byers worked for Comlongon Ltd from 1 April 2003 until her dismissal on 1 November 2016. The tribunal found that the immediate trigger for her suspension on 2 June 2016 was the dispute between the second respondent and the claimant's husband about land, not the stated allegation in the suspension letter. It accepted the claimant's evidence that she was told she could return to work if she persuaded her husband to leave the land, and that similar comments were made to her daughter later the same day.

After the husband did not leave the land, the second respondent pursued disciplinary action through Peninsula and HRFace2Face. The tribunal found that the material supplied to those advisers was one-sided and misleading, including statements from staff who would benefit from the claimant's departure and the absence of evidence from employees supportive of her. It accepted evidence that Alexander Roberts withdrew a supportive statement after pressure from an associate of the second respondent, and found that the second respondent was seeking grounds on which to justify dismissal.

Applying Burchell and s.98(4) ERA 1996, the tribunal held that the dismissal was unfair. It was not persuaded that the respondents genuinely believed the claimant was guilty of the alleged misconduct, that they had reasonable grounds for that belief, or that they had carried out a reasonable investigation. The tribunal was not satisfied that the issues about Emma Graham's pay during maternity leave, Shona Donnelly's holiday pay, missing paperwork, GWB invoices, online bookings, or bullying had been properly investigated. It rejected any Polkey reduction and any reduction for contributory fault. The basic award was £9,340.50 and the compensatory award was capped at £29,952; the tribunal recorded recoupment figures of £17,461.99 as the prescribed element and £21,830.51 as the excess, and it applied a 10% ACAS uplift in principle before the statutory cap.

The discrimination claim, brought because of marriage under the Equality Act 2010, was dismissed. The tribunal accepted that the claimant was treated because of her close relationship with Bryan Byers, and that the second respondent hoped the suspension would put pressure on him over the land dispute. Relying on Hawkins v Atex Group Ltd & Others, it held that this was not treatment because of marriage as such.

The tribunal upheld the claim for failure to provide a written statement of employment particulars and awarded £1,916, equivalent to four weeks' pay. The unauthorised deduction from wages claim was dismissed because the tribunal could not find what was properly payable for the week in issue or the amount of any deduction. Taken together, the monetary awards totalled £41,208.50.