The Employment Tribunal (EAT) in the recent case of K v L have alerted employers of the need to follow correct disciplinary procedures and ensuring that the employee is aware of the ultimate reason for their dismissal.
The Facts
The employee (K) worked as a teacher with 20 years good work record. Following a tip off, the police attended his home and discovered indecent images of children on the shared computer. (K) reported this to the school and was suspended.
Criminal prosecution
(K) admitted that the PC belonged to him but denied the downloading of images suggesting it could be a family member or another person having access to PC and although (K) was charged for the matter, but police decided not to proceed with the criminal prosecution but no formal acquital was provided hence (K) could still be prosecuted in the future.
The employer continued to investigate the matter and received from the police a redacted copy of the whole summary of evidence blanked out. Despite this lack of evidence, the investigation outcome was to recommend disciplinary action over the police investigation. This was linked to his employment with the school, but no reference was made to reputational damage as a cause that could result in dismissal.
The disciplinary chair did not uphold the indecent images allegation but dismissed (K) because of an irretrievable breakdown of trust and confidence and the risk of reputational damage from continued employment if (K) was to be prosecuted in future.
Employment tribunal
(K) took the case to employment tribunal who rejected his claim for unfair dismissal claim and thus he appealed to Employment Tribunal (EAT).
The EAT upheld his appeal and found the dismissal to be unfair as 1.the employer failed to give employee notice of the grounds by which he could be dismissed ie reputational damage, 2. it was unreasonable to dismiss on the “possibility” of misconduct or that (K)’s good conduct could not be guaranteed and 3. as the likelihood of prosecution and conviction was uncertain thus an unknown risk this should not have been relied upon.
The article is for general information purposes only and should you require further assistance and guidance on the matter, please contact our HR/Legal advice-line.
