Unfair Dismissal and Previous Warnings

Unfair Dismissal and Previous Warnings

There has been a slight change to the law on unfair dismissal when looking at previous warnings.

Prior to this case, the general position is that if a previous warning was not appealed by the employee at the time, the Tribunal would not revisit the matter.  In short, the employer could rely on it when deciding whether to dismiss.

The Court of Appeal this week have ruled that, where the previous warning is given in bad faith, it cannot be relied upon when deciding whether to dismiss. What this means is that the Tribunal can now look, and indeed should now look, at the previous warnings, if the employee casts doubt on them.

It’s worth getting the paperwork clear at disciplinaries, even if you don’t believe it will lead to dismissal on that occasion. You may need to justify it later.

The full case can be read at the following link: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2015/381.html

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