05 Aug Employers Succesfully Defend Unfair Dismissal Claims

Whilst some of the more interesting cases that I report on relate to employers losing unfair dismissal cases in the EAT, there are also plenty of cases where employees are not successful in bringing an unfair dismissal claim. Here are two of them for your review.

In the first case (UD/ 834/2013), a hairdresser who failed to return to work her contracted part time hours after a period of leave due to the illness of a relative was found to have compromised her own position.   The tribunal noted that the employer had behaved reasonably in accommodating the employee with part time work after having her children and leave for family reasons and said it was reasonable to have terminated her employment when the employee refused to come back to work and cited it was due to the cost of child care. The EAT outlined that the employee should have known that by failing to return to work her employment could be terminated.

In the second case (UD 1165/2012), the trust and confidence in the employment relationship was totally broken when a retail employee was found to have taken goods without scanning and paying for them.  The employee declined to bring a witness to the disciplinary meeting or to review the CCTV and till receipts produced as evidence. The employee further declined to appeal the decision to dismiss.