Mr Stuart Cockayne v Ltd (In Liquidation) — 2018

The claimant was dismissed for conduct after an incident with a colleague in which the respondent concluded he had assaulted that colleague in the workplace. The tribunal accepted conduct was the reason for dismissal and a potentially fair reason under section 98(2)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The tribunal found the investigation was flawed. The respondent did not put a floor plan to the claimant although it used it with other witnesses, did not investigate whether the colleague had a motive to make up or exaggerate the incident, and did not investigate or consider whether the colleague had raised his voice or participated in the heated argument. The tribunal found the respondent had reasonable grounds to believe there had been a heated argument, that the claimant tugged the colleague's sleeve, and that he had scissors in his hand, but not reasonable grounds for the fuller allegation as accepted by the decision-maker.

The tribunal held that the flawed investigation rendered dismissal outside the band of reasonable responses. It found a 50% chance the claimant would still have been dismissed had a fair procedure been followed. It also found the claimant's conduct was blameworthy and contributed to the dismissal, reducing the compensatory award by 85%, and reduced the basic award by 50%.