Ms J Anderson & Mr J Burnett Ms Donna Wilson v C/o Horizon Chartered Accountants Represented by: Mr R Katz - Solicitor Hazel Florence McMillan and 1 other — 2024

The tribunal upheld the unfair dismissal claim against the first respondent. It found the respondent's stated reason for dismissal had shifted between redundancy in the dismissal letter, conduct in the ET3, and an asserted gross misconduct case at the hearing, and held that the respondent had not given clear and cogent evidence of the reason in the decision-makers' minds. The tribunal therefore found no potentially fair reason for dismissal under s98 ERA 1996.

Even if there had been a fair reason, the tribunal held the dismissal was procedurally unfair and outside the band of reasonable responses. There had been no reasonable investigation into the alleged conduct or the events of 17 June 2023, no disciplinary hearing, no warning, and no appeal. The tribunal also noted that lateness and appearance issues had been tolerated during the employment, so the claimant had not been put on notice that they could lead to dismissal.

The dismissal was not held to be direct discrimination because of disability, age or sex. The respondents conceded the claimant was disabled by reason of ADHD, but the tribunal found no evidence that someone without ADHD would have been treated more favourably. It rejected the age discrimination theory that the respondents wanted a younger replacement, describing the argument as unsupported by evidence, and found no evidence that the claimant was dismissed because she was a woman.

The remaining Equality Act allegations, including earlier direct discrimination and harassment complaints, were dismissed as out of time under s123 Equality Act 2010. The tribunal declined to extend time because there was no adequate explanation for the delay, the evidence had lost cogency, the respondents would be prejudiced, and the claimant had chosen not to pursue the matters earlier. The separate s1 ERA 1996 statement-of-terms claim was withdrawn.

On remedy, the tribunal offset the payment described as statutory redundancy pay against the basic award and made no award for future loss because the claimant later earned more at Morrisons, starting on 8 April 2024. It used average net pay of £200.81 a week for the period from 24 June 2023 to 8 April 2024, awarded £8,233.21 for past loss of wages and £500 for loss of statutory rights, and applied a 15% ACAS uplift. The final unfair dismissal award was £10,043.19.