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04.07.2022
Important points on HOW TO PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS if an employee APPEALS to a Tribunal
Appeals are hugely important. How they are conducted can mean that you win - or lose - an employment tribunal case.
In a recent case an employer found an employee guilty of misconduct and dismissed him. He appealed and during the hearing he raised a new ‘mitigating’ factor. He said that he had been suffering from severe depression, was on medication to help, and that his depression and the medication he was on contributed to his ‘misconduct’.
The company took the view that:
- he had not raised this during the investigation or the disciplinary hearing; and
- the decision to dismiss had been on the information available at the time.
This sounds perfectly reasonable BUT the appeal process is there to give an employee ‘a second chance’. He used this ‘chance’ to his advantage, which meant that the employer had to reconsider the whole case again taking into account the new information he had provided.
As frustrating as this is for businesses, you do have to re-consider the case at appeal where new information is presented.
In this situation, the company should have conducted a medical investigation, including obtaining an occupational health report, to find out what impact – if any – the employee’s medical condition (and medication he was on) may have had on his conduct.
Their failure to do so proved a costly mistake!
I am a qualified employment law solicitor with over 25 years' experience working for the most part with employers. All businesses are vulnerable to tribunal claims from employees. My firm…
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