Mr. J Brown v Laporte Industries UK Limited — 2023

At a preliminary hearing on 13 July 2023 before Employment Judge Heap sitting alone, the tribunal considered whether the meeting on 30 September 2022 could be relied on in Mr Brown's unfair dismissal claim. The claimant had also advanced a harassment complaint relating to disability, but the parties agreed that the meeting was not relevant to that complaint.

The tribunal heard from Mr Brown, Paula Sturges and Jean Palmer. It preferred the evidence of Ms Sturges and Ms Palmer, finding that the claimant was told at the outset that the meeting was without prejudice, that the factory manager role was said not to be the right role, and that he was offered either a foreman role or termination of employment with one month in lieu of notice, a tax-free lump sum of £2,500 and £300 towards legal fees. The judge rejected Mr Brown's account that the meeting was not presented as without prejudice and rejected his reliance on the alleged words 'I don't have to tell you anything sonny'.

The tribunal held that the meeting was a genuine pre-termination negotiation within s.111A ERA 1996 and not a disciplinary or suspension meeting. The alleged comment, even if made, would not have amounted to improper behaviour within the ACAS Code. The result was that the meeting and what was said at it are inadmissible in the unfair dismissal proceedings and must be redacted from the Claim Form; they were also agreed to be irrelevant to the harassment complaint. No merits decision or remedy was determined by this judgment.