Mrs J Noble v Represented by: Mr A Hardman - Advocate T.J. Morris Limited — 2026

The claimant was dismissed after she verbally dismissed a Team Member on 14 May 2025 without conducting a disciplinary process, informing them of appeal or accompaniment rights, or completing the respondent's probationary documentation. The respondent treated this as gross misconduct involving dereliction of duty and serious breach of company policy or procedure. The tribunal accepted that conduct was the reason for dismissal and that this was a potentially fair reason under section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The tribunal found that Mr Nicol genuinely believed the claimant had failed to follow disciplinary and probationary procedures and had reasonable grounds for that belief to that extent. The claimant had accepted that she had not followed the disciplinary policy, had received some training, and knew how to access the relevant procedures. However, the tribunal did not consider that Mr Nicol had reasonable grounds for concluding that the claimant had exposed the respondent to significant financial and reputational risk, because no enquiries had been made about actual or likely financial loss or reputational impact.

Applying section 98(4) and the range of reasonable responses test, the tribunal concluded that dismissal was outside the range of reasonable responses. It took into account that the claimant had no previous disciplinary record, the meeting with the Team Member was not a pre-arranged disciplinary hearing, the decision was not deliberate or premeditated, there were staffing and support issues, and the respondent had not shown structured management support following her promotion. The tribunal also found that the appeal did not cure the unfairness, noting that Mr Withers formed adverse views about the claimant's honesty and the alleged wrongs to the Team Member without putting those matters to her.

For remedy, the tribunal awarded a basic award and compensatory award, then reduced both by 20 percent for contributory conduct because the claimant had some training, knew how to access relevant information, and could have sought advice after the Team Member's dismissal. The final monetary award was £16,397.24, comprising £6,039.30 basic award and £10,357.94 compensatory award. The Employment Protection (Recoupment of Jobseeker's Allowance and Income Support) Regulations 1996 did not apply.