Employment - Rectifying procedural flaws on dismissal appeal
The case of Adeshina v St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & Ors UKEAT/0293/14/RN provides a useful example that procedural flaws can be corrected on a rehearing/ as part of the appeal process in the disciplinary process.
In this case the Claimant appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) claiming that her dismissal was based on claims of race discrimination, unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal.
The claimant was dismissed for gross misconduct. She went to the Employment Tribunal (ET) but it held that her dismissal was fair. She appealed but the decision was upheld. She claimed race discrimination, victimisation, automatic protected disclosure and conventional unfair dismissal, and wrongful dismissal at the ET. Upon appeal, although the EAT found the dismissal was procedurally flawed in many respects, and thus unfair, they concluded that the dismissal appeal process was fair and had the effect of curing the deficiencies at the dismissal stage. Taken overall, the Claimant's dismissal was thus deemed fair.
It is never advisable to rely on appeals to rectify procedural errors in a disciplinary or dismissal process. Although it should be remembered how important the appeal process can be, both in terms of rectifying previous mistakes and also providing an independent review on the case facts to confirm or remedy any first instance decisions.
Posted on 09/09/2015 by Ortolan
