Mr Mark Tait v , Solicitor Discovery Flexibles Limited — 2021

The claimant, Mr Mark Tait, brought an ordinary unfair dismissal claim arising from his summary dismissal by Discovery Flexibles Limited following an incident on 21 May 2020 in the slitting department. He had initially also advanced a section 103A automatic unfair dismissal claim, but that claim was withdrawn before the hearing. The tribunal heard evidence about a meeting with production manager David McColl, after which the claimant left the workplace and later maintained that he had been suspended.

The tribunal accepted the respondent witnesses as credible and reliable and rejected the claimant’s evidence as unreliable. It found that the claimant became abusive and disruptive at the 21 May meeting, used abusive language towards Mr McColl, and left the workplace without authorisation. It also found that he had not been suspended, and that he had been told on more than one occasion that he was not suspended, including during the telephone call on 22 May. The tribunal accepted the respondent’s evidence that Mr Collins investigated the matter, took witness statements, reviewed CCTV, and adjourned the disciplinary process to obtain further evidence from Mr Marr and Mr Moran.

Applying section 98 ERA 1996 and the Burchell approach, the tribunal held that the respondent had a genuine belief in misconduct, had reasonable grounds for that belief, and had carried out as much investigation as was reasonable in the circumstances. It found the dismissal fell within the band of reasonable responses. The tribunal therefore held that the claimant was not unfairly dismissed and dismissed the claim.