If a colleague makes you fear for your safety, leaving can be protected by law
“Dismissal found automatically unfair. Employer's appeal dismissed by the EATStands for Employment Appeal Tribunal. It hears appeals from employment tribunal decisions on points of law, not on the facts. It is not a way of simply asking for a second opinion on the outcome..”
You can be protected by law for leaving work because a colleague frightened you. The danger does not have to come from equipment or premises.
- If you leave a shift because a colleague's conduct made you fear for your safety, keep a note of exactly what happened and when. This will matter if you need to show your belief was reasonable.
- This type of protection does not require a minimum length of service, unlike most unfair dismissalA legal claim you can bring if your employer dismissed you without a fair reason or without following a fair process. You normally need two years of continuous employment to qualify, though some dismi... claims.
- If you have been dismissed or treated badly after leaving work in these circumstances, get advice. These cases depend heavily on the specific facts.
The situation
A night shift machine minder worked alone with one colleague, considerably younger than him. That colleague realised the machine minder had complained about him and confronted him during a shift, standing very close and shouting abuse when he tried to phone his manager. Feeling unsafe, the machine minder did not stay to make the call. He left the site immediately, drove home, and phoned his manager from there instead. He was dismissed shortly afterwards, with under three months' service.
What the tribunal found
The tribunal found the machine minder had genuinely been in danger, and that given how closely the colleague had stood over him, and the age gap between them, it was reasonable for him to believe that danger was serious and imminent. Leaving a workplace, or refusing to return to it, is protected from dismissal when an employee reasonably believes they face serious and imminent dangerSerious and imminent danger is the legal threshold in section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. If you reasonably believed you or others faced this level of risk, your employer can't penalise you ..., a protection set out in section 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996The primary piece of legislation setting out employees rights in the UK, including the right not to be unfairly dismissed, the right to a written statement of employment particulars, and rights relati.... The dismissal here was automatically unfair. On appeal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal confirmed this reading of the law. The danger the section protects against does not have to come from the building, the machinery, or the site itself. A threat from another member of staff counts too.
Employment Appeal Tribunal · 1999