Unfair Dismissal:

The principal issues in the appeal concerned the now repealed statutory dismissal procedure in Employment Act 2002 Schedule 2 Part 1 Chapter 1. The EAT held the following:-

(1) The Employment Tribunal did not err in holding that the employer was in breach of the statutory dismissal procedure by failing to warn the employee of the possibility that the disciplinary hearing could result in her dismissal in accordance with Step 1 and Alexander v Brigden Enterprises Ltd [2006] IRLR 422.  The giving of such a warning before a reconvened hearing did not cure the defect as the hearing was not restarted after the necessary information had been given.  YMCA Training v Stewart [2007] IRLR 185 considered.

(2) The decision of the Employment Tribunal to award an uplift of 30% in the compensatory award was perverse.

(3) The Employment Tribunal failed to make any findings as to the medical ability of the employee to work after her dismissal or as to the availability of suitable work for her. The award of compensation until retirement date was not based on findings of fact.

Accordingly, the compensatory award and 30% uplift was set aside. Also, the claim for a compensatory award was remitted to a different Employment Tribunal for rehearing with a 10% uplift to be applied to any compensatory award.