Employment Tribunals: The Law Is Not On Your Side

If you needed ANY reminder that the odds in an employment tribunal are stacked against you, this following story has that reminder in spades.

A postman was awarded £3,000 after a tribunal found he was unfairly dismissed by Royal Mail.

The reason for his dismissal?

Working a second job as a taxi driver while on sick leave.

The sticking point was the wording of the doctor’s note, with the judge coming down on the side of the employee who maintained that the note only precluded him from his Royal Mail work, as opposed to any work.

This was despite the panel also pointing out that the employee’s conduct was “significant and culpable” because he was earning money from taxi fares during periods of time when he was contracted to Royal Mail and receiving sick pay.

As you’d expect, there are a few complications in the case that mean that it’s not quite as cut and dried as the headlines might suggest (read the detail here), but from an employer’s perspective, here are the facts:

• The barrier for an employee to take you to a tribunal has NEVER been lower
• If you are found to have done ANYTHING not entirely by the book, the chances of you paying out something are extremely high
• Even if you think you’ve done everything right (i.e. dismissed someone for breach of contract), there’s a strong chance that a disgruntled employee will find some way to bite back

The law is not on your side, and as the Employee Rights Bill comes into force over the next couple of years, it’s going to become ever more important that you’re squeaky clean.

And if you’re looking guilty and staring at your shoes because you know that your HR is lacking, NOW is the time to fix it.  Before it’s too late.