Mr Stuart McKie v Anderson Strachan Ltd — 2021

Mr Stuart McKie brought a single unfair dismissal claim arising from his dismissal by Anderson Strachan Ltd on 22 February 2020. The respondent said he was dismissed for gross misconduct after he sent confidential company information, including client and sales data, from his work email to his personal email and then deleted the sent item. The claimant said he had been permitted to do this and that the dismissal was unreasonable.

The tribunal preferred the evidence of Mrs Wood and Mrs Hope to that of the claimant. It found the claimant was not a reliable witness, noting that he changed his account on several points, including whether he had sent the email, whether someone else had accessed his computer, and whether he had authority to work from home or transfer information. The tribunal accepted the respondent’s investigation, including the IT evidence from Mr Dunbar, which showed the email to the claimant’s personal address and the forced deletion of the sent item.

Applying section 98 ERA 1996 and the Burchell approach, the tribunal held that the respondent had a genuine belief in misconduct, reasonable grounds for that belief, and had carried out as much investigation as was reasonable in the circumstances. It also held that the respondent had reasonable grounds to conclude the claimant had no authority to send the material home and that his explanations were not accepted. The tribunal considered the appeal process, including the use of Mr Hope as appeal officer in a small family company and the decision to proceed by Zoom during lockdown, and found the procedure remained within the band of reasonable responses.

The tribunal concluded that dismissal for the claimant’s conduct was fair and that the dismissal fell within the band of reasonable responses open to a reasonable employer. The claim was dismissed and no monetary award was made.