Case 6011511/2024 · Employment Tribunal
Russell Cherrington v University of Derby — 2025
- Case reference
- 6011511/2024
- Decision date
- 25 April 2025
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Price Representation
- Venue
- Nottingham
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Russell Cherrington
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe claimant, a Senior Lecturer in Media and Film, was dismissed following a disciplinary process concerning language found by the respondent to be inappropriate and unprofessional. The tribunal considered whether the respondent had a genuine belief in misconduct, reasonable grounds for that belief, a reasonable investigation, a fair procedure, and whether dismissal fell within the range of reasonable responses.
The tribunal found that the respondent acted reasonably in treating conduct as the reason for dismissal and in deciding that the matters warranted formal disciplinary action. It also found that the appeal panel reasonably reviewed and upheld the dismissal, including the claimant's arguments about sanction, opportunity to address language issues informally, and academic free speech.
The tribunal concluded that the dismissal was fair, that the complaint of unfair dismissal was not well founded, and dismissed the claim.
Claims and outcomes
1 finding recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unfair dismissal | The judgment states that the unfair dismissal claim was not well founded and was dismissed. The prompt text is truncated, but includes the judgment outcome and final conclusions. | Dismissed | — | — |
Legal tests applied
10 references- s.98(4) ERA 1996
- range of reasonable responses
- balance of probabilities
- Hewston v Ofsted [2025] EWCA Civ 250
- Ramphal v Department for Transport [2015] I.R.L.R. 985
- Talbot v Costain Oil, Gas and Process [2017] ICR D11
- AB v University XYZ [2020] EWHC 2978 (QB)
- Umudi v Lidl GB Ltd ET Case 2500358/2021
- Sekander v Rocket Mill Ltd ET Case 2301645/2016
- Adeshina v St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2015] IRLR 704
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
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