Mr George Hope v Represented by: Ms M Javed –15 Trainee Solicitor & Mr M O’Carroll Advocate United Biscuits UK Ltd t/a pladis — 2019

Mr Hope was dismissed after a workplace ankle injury on 11 April 2018 and a series of health and safety and disciplinary meetings in which United Biscuits / pladis concluded that he had given false information about how the accident happened. The tribunal found that he had climbed onto an upturned pallet to adjust a radio and that this was an unsafe act, but it also found that he gave a more accurate account during the health and safety investigation before he had seen the CCTV footage and that he was in considerable pain when the initial statement was taken.

Applying the Burchell approach and s.98(4) ERA 1996, the tribunal accepted that the respondent genuinely believed misconduct had occurred and had reasonable grounds to believe that some parts of the claimant’s account were inaccurate. However, it held that the respondent did not have reasonable grounds to believe that he had colluded with Mr Barton or misinformed other witnesses, and it did not have reasonable grounds for the further inference that he had invented the twinge explanation to reconcile his account with CCTV. The tribunal considered that the respondent focused too heavily on the initial statement and drew conclusions about the claimant’s motive without sufficient evidence.

The tribunal therefore held that dismissal was outside the range of reasonable responses and that Mr Hope was unfairly dismissed. It did not apply a Polkey reduction, but it did find contributory conduct because the unsafe act contributed to the dismissal. The compensatory award was reduced by 75% from £13,240 to £3,310, and the basic award was reduced by 75% from £6,007.50 to £1,501.87.

The wrongful dismissal claim was also upheld. The tribunal held that the claimant’s conduct did not amount to a repudiatory breach of contract, so the respondent was not entitled to dismiss without notice or payment in lieu of notice. It calculated notice pay at £337 per week for nine weeks, producing £3,033. The total monetary award was £7,844.87.