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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Employee-favourable 2026

Your employer can’t stop paying you and let you go with no notice.

Your employer must pay you everything you have earned and give you the notice your contract promises. If either stops, that is a legal breach, not a grey area, whatever explanation your employer offers afterwards.

Employment Tribunal Evidence and records notice pay unpaid wages wrongful dismissal

Employee-favourable 2026

Ignoring your appeal against dismissal can make it unfair, even with good reason.

If your employer never properly deals with your appeal against dismissal, that can make the dismissal unfair, even where the underlying reason for it was genuine.

Disciplinary Process Procedural Fairness Redundancy Unfair Dismissal

Employer-favourable 2026

Your employer can’t run a discrimination grievance separately from a live disciplinary.

Your employer has to properly consider a health condition or discrimination grievance you raise during a disciplinary, and run it as part of that process.

Disability Discrimination Disciplinary procedure Grievance procedure Unfair Dismissal

Employee-favourable 2026

Your employer has to justify cancelling a work-from-home arrangement, not just announce it.

If your employer ends a work-from-home arrangement linked to breastfeeding or childcare without a genuine business justification, that can be indirect sex discrimination, even without anything else going wrong.

Constructive Dismissal Grievance procedure Harassment Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Sex Discrimination

Employee-favourable 2026

Your employer recognised you needed help, then did nothing for six months before dismissing you.

If your employer identifies that you need occupational health support or extra training and then does nothing about it for months, that failure can turn a later performance dismissal into unlawful disability discrimination.

Disability Discrimination Harassment Occupational Health Reasonable Adjustments Unfair Dismissal

Mixed 2026

If your employer won’t correct a sick note that blames your disability, that matters.

Occupational health referrals or return-to-work documents that link your performance or sickness absence to your disability, even without naming it, can amount to unlawful disability discrimination.

Disability Discrimination Equality Act Grievance procedure Occupational Health

Mixed 2026

If you regularly work overtime, it should count towards your holiday pay.

What matters is whether your overtime is regular, not whether it's guaranteed. If it is, it should be included when your holiday pay is worked out, and you can usually claim a shortfall going back up to two years.

Constructive Dismissal Holiday Pay Overtime Protected disclosure Whistleblowing

Employee-favourable 2026

You can’t be dismissed the day after your job transfers to a new employer

If your job transfers to a new employer under TUPE, you keep the same rights and protections you had before, and being dismissed just because of the transfer is automatically unfair dismissal.

Consultation Employment Tribunal TUPE Unfair Dismissal

Employee-favourable 2026

Your employer can’t take away a working adjustment on a hunch.

If a reasonable adjustment has been working, your employer needs real evidence of a problem, not just an assumption, before taking it away.

Capability Disability Discrimination Ill-health capability Reasonable Adjustments Unfair Dismissal

Employee-favourable 2026

Your employer can’t deduct costs from your pay unless it’s actually in your contract.

You're entitled to get back any deduction your employer had no legal right to make.

Contracts and Agreements Evidence and records Pay unpaid wages Working time

Mixed 2026

Serious allegations don’t excuse vague charges or refusing to let your companion speak.

If you're facing a disciplinary, your employer has to tell you clearly what you're accused of, and let the companion you bring actually speak on your behalf.

Disciplinary procedure Procedural Fairness Right to Representation Unfair Dismissal

Employee-favourable 2026

Even if you’re called self-employed, time spent waiting for bookings can be paid work.

If your employer requires you to attend or stay at work even when there is no booking or task for you, that time should be paid under minimum wage law, whatever your contract calls you.

Contracts and Agreements Employment Status Holiday Pay National Minimum Wage Worker Rights

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