Ms June Bradley Personal Representative v Glasgow City Council — 2021

The claimant was dismissed without notice after an altercation with a colleague at work. The respondent relied on allegations of fighting, being under the influence of alcohol or another substance, physically and verbally threatening the colleague, and sending earlier text messages said to threaten violence.

The tribunal found the respondent had dismissed for a potentially fair reason, conduct, but that the investigation and dismissal decision were outside the band of reasonable responses. It found the investigation report went beyond the respondent's procedure by setting out conclusions, discounted evidence favourable to the claimant, did not investigate potentially relevant texts and police involvement, and did not fairly balance evidence for and against the allegations.

The tribunal also found the dismissing officer did not have sufficient information to form a reasonable belief in the claimant's guilt, approached the allegations with a closed mind, discounted parts of the colleague's evidence without considering the effect on credibility more generally, and took into account an expired warning without giving the claimant a fair opportunity to respond. It found the claimant had not committed a repudiatory breach of contract, so the dismissal without notice was wrongful.

For remedy, the tribunal made no Polkey deduction, but found the claimant contributed to his dismissal by failing to take steps to de-escalate the deteriorating relationship with his colleague. It reduced the compensatory award by 25%, but did not reduce the basic award.