G Smogorzewska v Lidl Great Britain Limited — 2025

The claimant was dismissed following disciplinary allegations arising from complaints by two colleagues. The respondent upheld allegations that she had placed her hands around a colleague's throat, had used the word "shit" aggressively to two colleagues, and had conducted a disciplinary guidance discussion with an employee on the warehouse floor. The respondent treated the first allegation as gross misconduct warranting dismissal, while the other upheld allegations were treated as warranting lesser sanctions.

The tribunal found that conduct was the reason for dismissal and that this was a potentially fair reason under section 98(2)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Applying the Burchell test, it found that the dismissing officer believed the claimant had committed the misconduct, had reasonable grounds for that belief, and had carried out as much investigation as was reasonable in the circumstances. The tribunal accepted that there had been delay, and noted that part of the claimant's grievance about delay had been upheld internally, but concluded that the delay was explained and had not caused prejudice rendering the dismissal unfair.

On sanction, the tribunal found that dismissal would not have been reasonable on the language allegations alone or on the procedural allegation alone. However, given the finding that the claimant, in a managerial role, had put her hands around the throat of a more junior employee, the tribunal concluded that dismissal fell within the band of reasonable responses. The claim therefore failed and was dismissed.