Mr J Caird v British Telecommunications plc — 2025

The only claim pursued was unfair dismissal. The respondent said the reason for dismissal was conduct arising from Microsoft Teams messages, including comments about Islamophobia Awareness Month, a message using the words "arab bastard", and issues around comments made by colleagues. The tribunal accepted that the respondent had a genuine belief in some misconduct, but found that the decision makers relied on matters that had not formed part of the disciplinary charges communicated to the claimant.

The tribunal found that the investigation was not within the range of reasonable investigations. The claimant was not asked for an explanation before the matter was escalated as potential gross misconduct, and the disciplinary and appeal stages relied on alleged failures to report colleagues' comments and a messaging chat about Auschwitz that had not been charged. The tribunal also found that the appeal effectively reopened the "arab bastard" allegation after the disciplinary manager had accepted the claimant's explanation that it referred to Dundee United supporters and had put that allegation aside.

The tribunal concluded that neither the disciplinary manager nor the appeal manager had reasonable grounds to reject the claimant's explanation that his comment about Islamophobia Awareness Month concerned the duration of the wider awareness month. It found the dismissal procedurally and substantively unfair, made no reduction for contributory fault, and applied a 10% ACAS uplift because the claimant had not been given sufficient information about the disciplinary case he ultimately had to answer.