Claimant v HBOS plc — 2022

The claimant was dismissed without notice after an investigation into allegations including racially derogatory comments and racially biased recruitment practices. The respondent ultimately proceeded with two disciplinary allegations: alleged racially derogatory language and recruitment bias, treated as potential gross misconduct, and alleged failure to record a potential conflict of interest when recruiting her son's partner, treated as misconduct.

The tribunal found that the respondent had established conduct as the reason for dismissal. It accepted that the dismissing officer genuinely believed the claimant had committed misconduct, had reasonable grounds for that belief, and had carried out an investigation within the range of reasonable approaches. Although the appeal officer made some findings beyond the stated scope of the appeal, the tribunal found this did not make the dismissal unfair because the original dismissal decision had been fairly reached and the appeal also addressed the substantive grounds.

The unfair dismissal claim was dismissed because dismissal was within the band of reasonable responses open to the respondent. The notice pay claim was also dismissed: on the balance of probability the tribunal found that the claimant had materially breached the respondent's conduct standards through the conduct in Allegation 1, releasing the respondent from any obligation to give notice or pay in lieu.