Mr Abdullahi Aden v St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust — 2025

The claimant, a Device Support Technician in pathology IT employed since September 2013, was dismissed on 6 August 2024 following allegations of unauthorised remote access to a senior scientist's PC and unauthorised changes to her Winpath password. The Tribunal, applying the Burchell test as elaborated for the facts of this case, found that the respondent had a genuine belief in the misconduct based on reasonable grounds and following a reasonable investigation, and that dismissal fell within the band of reasonable responses under s.98(4) ERA 1996. The unfair dismissal claim was therefore not well founded and was dismissed.

On wrongful dismissal, the Tribunal found that although the respondent had the contractual right under clause 19 to dismiss summarily for gross misconduct, it had in fact elected to terminate the contract on notice, as evidenced by the dismissal letter stating the claimant was "entitled to 6 weeks full pay notice period". Having elected to continue the contract on notice, the respondent was bound by the contractual notice provisions, which entitled the claimant to 10 weeks' notice rather than the 6 weeks paid. The Tribunal ordered payment of the 4-week shortfall amounting to £2,305.32 gross.