Case Studies

Real employment tribunal decisions, explained in plain English for employees. Each case sets out what happened, what the tribunal found, and what it means for you.

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Topic

Unfair Dismissal 55 Disability Discrimination 44 Discrimination 34 Procedural Fairness 32 Constructive Dismissal 31 Reasonable Adjustments 28 Employer duties 22 Equality Act 22 Occupational Health 22 Harassment 21

Redundancy 21 Mutual Trust and Confidence 18 Compensation 17 Employment Tribunal 16 Evidence and records 16 Disciplinary procedure 15 Contracts and Agreements 14 Grievance procedure 14 Pay 14 Whistleblowing 13 Breach of contract 12 Disciplinary Process 12 Capability 10 Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination 10 Misconduct 9 Protected disclosure 9 Settlement 9 Bullying 8 Detriment 8 Employment rights 8 Consultation 7 Management Conduct 7 Suspension 7 Time Limits 7 unpaid wages 7 Without Prejudice 7 case-law 6 Disciplinary Investigations 6 Employment Status 6 Ill-health capability 6 Resignation 6 Disciplinary 5 insolvency 5 notice pay 5 TUPE 5 work-related-stress 5 wrongful dismissal 5 Affirmation 4 duty-of-care 4 Implied Terms 4 Polkey Reduction 4 Right to Representation 4 Vicarious Liability 4 Victimisation 4 Worker Rights 4 Attendance Management 3 Investigation 3 Natural Justice 3 Public interest 3 Race Discrimination 3 Sick Leave 3 Trust and Confidence 3 Working time 3 Contributory Conduct 2 Disclosure 2 Dismissal procedure 2 Holiday Pay 2 ill-health 2 Last Straw 2 managerial-competence 2 National Minimum Wage 2 Restraint of Trade 2 sickness absence 2 written warning 2 absence 1 Adoption Leave 1 Agency Workers 1 bias 1 compensatory-award 1 Consistency 1 control-test 1 Cumulative Disclosures 1 dismissal 1 education 1 higher-education 1 HMRC and Tax 1 Information vs Allegation 1 Length of service 1 Opt-out agreements 1 Overtime 1 Protected Conversation 1 public-interest-test 1 Qualifying Disclosure 1 reason-for-dismissal 1 Religion or Belief Discrimination 1 self-employment 1 Sex Discrimination 1 Shared Parental Leave 1 statutory-guarantee 1 Strike-out Threshold 1 worker-status 1 Working Hours 1

Outcome

All Employee-favourable 157 Employer-favourable 42 Mixed 35

234 case studies

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Employer-favourable 2018

If you stay quiet about your suspension, a tribunal can weigh that against you later, but the duty to investigate fairly still sits with your employer.

Put your objections and evidence requests in writing during the process, because your silence can be weighed later even though the duty to be fair stays with your employer.

Suspension

Employer-favourable 2018

A complaint can count as whistleblowing even if it is an allegation, as long as it is specific enough.

An allegation can still be a protected disclosure, so long as it carries enough specific factual detail.

Information vs Allegation

Employee-favourable 2018

Once your employer knows you’re disabled, they don’t need to know your disability caused what you did for it to be discrimination.

Once your employer knows about your disability, they don't need to also realise it caused what you did for a dismissal to count as discrimination.

Disability Discrimination Discrimination Procedural Fairness Reasonable Adjustments

Employer-favourable 2018

If you think your suspension was wrong, say so in writing straight away. Silence can be used against you later.

If you believe your suspension is unjustified, put that in writing immediately. Saying nothing at the time can be taken as acceptance that the suspension was reasonable, and that will make it harder to challenge later.

Disciplinary Process Employer duties Evidence and records Suspension

Employee-favourable 2018

Your employer can still be liable for a manager’s conduct at an informal after-party.

An employer's responsibility for a manager's conduct does not switch off just because the official work event has ended.

duty-of-care Employer duties Management Conduct Vicarious Liability

Mixed 2018

A sales director’s team shrank after a restructure, and his employer decided his role was no longer needed given the reduced team size and the level of business in his sales region

Your employer should normally at least think about whether you could take over a more junior role instead of being made redundant, even if you never suggested it yourself.

Redundancy

Employer-favourable 2018

When you are thinking about resigning because of how you have been treated, there is a four-step test a tribunal will apply to your claim.

A constructive dismissal claim based on accumulated conduct is tested against four questions: what was the last act, did the overall conduct amount to a fundamental breach, did you resign in response, and had you affirmed the contract?

Constructive Dismissal Employment Tribunal Resignation Trust and Confidence

Employee-favourable 2017

Being on sick leave when you are dismissed does not make the dismissal automatically fair.

The employer must have genuinely engaged with the medical evidence and considered the full circumstances. Only then can a decision to dismiss be fair. Prolonged absence does not by itself justify dismissal for ill-health capability.

Compensation Ill-health capability Occupational Health Procedural Fairness Unfair Dismissal

Employee-favourable 2017

Raising a concern about your employer does not automatically make it whistleblowing. There has to be a public interest element.

For a disclosure to be protected as whistleblowing, it must have a public interest element beyond your individual situation. A concern that affects only you personally is unlikely to qualify.

Detriment Protected disclosure Public interest Whistleblowing

Mixed 2016

Pre-claim settlement talks have their own layer of legal protection.

Section 111A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 protects pre-termination settlement conversations from use in unfair dismissal claims, even before any dispute has arisen.

Protected Conversation Settlement Without Prejudice

Mixed 2016

Pre-termination settlement talks cannot normally be used against you in tribunal.

Pre-termination settlement conversations are protected from use in ordinary unfair dismissal proceedings under section 111A of the Employment Rights Act 1996, but the protection does not cover breach of contract, discrimination, whistleblowing, or automatic unfair dismissal claims.

Settlement

Mixed 2016

Raising performance concerns while you’re off sick can break your employer’s duty of trust.

Timing matters when your employer raises concerns with you while you are off sick. Raising performance issues during sick leave can itself break the trust that holds your employment relationship together, giving you grounds to resign and claim constructive dismissal.

Disability Discrimination Ill-health capability

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