Mr M Wylie v Garrion Security Services Limited — 2019

Mr Wylie was employed as a security guard at Ibrox Stadium and was dismissed after an incident on 31 October 2018 in the control room with another guard, Jay Jamieson. The tribunal also considered an earlier final written warning issued on 8 August 2018 concerning Mr Wylie’s treatment of Janis Hopkins, including findings that he ignored her and failed to assist her, but it treated that warning as part of the unfair dismissal analysis rather than as a separate claim.

Applying section 98 ERA 1996 and the band of reasonable responses approach, the tribunal accepted the respondent’s evidence that a disciplinary investigation and hearing had been carried out and that the decision-maker, Mr Dickson, had not relied on the final written warning when dismissing Mr Wylie. The tribunal found the warning had not been shown to be obviously defective or manifestly inappropriate, and that the claimant had not appealed it at the time.

On the incident itself, the tribunal preferred the evidence of the respondent’s witnesses, particularly Stephen Barr and Alistair Bayne, and found that Mr Wylie was engaged in a fight with Mr Jamieson rather than acting only in self-defence. It accepted that the dispute had been provoked by the claimant’s refusal earlier that day to cover Tracey’s break and by his general unwillingness to work the Argyll House reception, and it found that he had contributed greatly to the situation. The tribunal held that fighting was gross misconduct under the disciplinary policy.

The tribunal concluded that dismissal for gross misconduct was both understandable and within the range of reasonable responses open to the employer. It therefore dismissed the unfair dismissal claim. The judge added that, if the dismissal had been unfair, the claimant would have been regarded as having made a very substantial contribution to his dismissal and any award would probably have been extinguished entirely.