Member J Connolly Tribunal Member K Pirie Ms Eilidh Rattray v Gas Call Services Ltd — 2023

The claimant was employed as a Service and Repair Technician and returned from maternity leave on 25 March 2022 working 40 hours a week over four days. On 25 April, 9 May and 7 June 2022 she reported disconnected or missing microswitches on boilers to Mr Jamie Tugman. The tribunal found that the respondent had a health and safety committee and a safety representative, but that it had not been reasonably practicable for the claimant to raise the matter through those channels, and that on 7 June 2022 she reasonably believed the missing or bypassed microswitch was potentially harmful to health or safety.

The automatic unfair dismissal claim nevertheless failed because the tribunal found that Mr Michael Donnelly decided to dismiss the claimant because of Facebook posts she had made on 7 June 2022, which he believed were likely to bring the respondent into disrepute. It found that he did not know about the health and safety messages when he took that decision. The tribunal accepted that the dismissal process was rushed and did not follow the respondent's own disciplinary procedure or the ACAS Code, but held that those procedural defects did not change the reason for dismissal, which was the posts and their perceived reputational risk.

The sex discrimination claim also failed. The tribunal found that the claimant carried out a mixture of servicing and repair work after her maternity leave, that allocation varied with business demand, and that she had made only informal requests to do less servicing. It held that Mr Kevin Traynor was not an apt comparator because he had made a written request to change role and moved to installations. The allegation relating to Mr Marc Easton was rejected because the circumstances were materially different and the tribunal did not find less favourable treatment because of sex. As both claims failed, no remedy was awarded; the tribunal noted in passing that it did not consider the claimant had failed to mitigate loss.