Member Ms Z van Zwanenberg Tribunal Member Mr D Frew Mr P Rzepka v Amazon UK Services Limited — 2021

The claimant was dismissed following an allegation that he had made threatening comments about a supervisor. The tribunal found that he had not threatened to slap the supervisor or break her legs, although he had made negative comments about her and her management. It found that the alleged race-related comment by the supervisor, described by the claimant as calling him a "lazy Polish shit", was not proved, and the race discrimination claim failed.

For unfair dismissal, the tribunal accepted conduct as a potentially fair reason but found the investigation was outside the band of reasonable responses. It found that questioning was directed towards confirming the allegation rather than establishing the facts, that the claimant's allegations about Mr Walker were not investigated, and that the investigation report reached conclusions going beyond the evidence.

The tribunal also found that the disciplinary decision maker did not approach the hearing with an open mind and had taken an expired warning into account when deciding both culpability and sanction. No Polkey deduction or deduction for failure to appeal was made, but the compensatory award was reduced by 20% for contributory conduct because the claimant's angry approach to Mr Walker was the initial cause of the proceedings. The wrongful dismissal claim succeeded because the claimant's conduct was not a fundamental breach of contract entitling dismissal without notice.