| Court of Appeal Case on Fair Dismissals |
Good news for employers regarding Unfair DismissalA recent Court of Appeal case, Orr –v- Milton Keynes Council, has established that in an unfair dismissal claim, an employer cannot be held to know key mitigating facts of which the decision maker had been unaware, despite those facts being known to other employees about an individual.When establishing whether a dismissal is fair, a Tribunal should only take into account the knowledge or state of mind of the person who is responsible for carrying out the employer’s functions i.e. the disciplinary officer. If that person does not know about key information which others are aware of, the dismissal is not rendered unfair, provided always (our emphasis) that information could not reasonably have been obtained through the appropriate disciplinary procedures. Brief facts Mr Orr had committed two separate incidents, including rudeness, to his Line Manager. This resulted in his dismissal. Milton Keynes Council found it amounted to gross misconduct, however, the disciplinary officer was unaware that the second incident had been provoked by the conduct and language of the Council (which the Tribunal later found amounted to direct race discrimination). The Court of Appeal decided the Tribunal had been correct to find the dismissal fair because the disciplinary officer made their decision on the facts known to them which the Tribunal found was reasonable. Comment This case is good news for employers because, as a Court of Appeal decision, it is a binding authority on Employment Tribunals. It shows that the Courts can take a common sense approach when looking at the facts presented to disciplinary officers who face making a decision to dismiss. |