Question

John and Eric were fighting at work. They have never got on very well, and the fight appears to have been the result of a number of disagreements over the years. John is the Supervisor, and Eric is one of the team. A customer saw them fighting, and their manager is furious that they have damaged the reputation of the company in this way.
The manager wants to dismiss them both. What would he need to show for the dismissal to be fair?
Amy is a Sales Assistant in a supermarket. She has been very slow at processing goods through the till. On a busy Saturday morning customers were complaining about the speed of her work. She got flustered, which meant that one customer was charged the wrong amount for the goods. Her manager came over, got frustrated and shouted at Amy in front of the queue of customers.
Amy has now resigned and claimed constructive dismissal. What will she have to show for her claim to be successful?
The company recognises a trade union, but has always had an unwritten agreement that managers are not in the trade union. The recognition agreement that they have only applies to junior members of staff, and it has been seen as inappropriate for managers to be both representing the senior management of the company and also to be in a trade union.
Raj has been promoted to management level. He has been a member of the trade union all his working life. He has been asked to resign by his senior manager and has refused. He says that he wants the company to extend the recognition agreement to include managers, and therefore there is no reason for him to resign his membership.

What legal issues do the company need to consider?

Solution

Introduction

In the modern competitive business environment, the employment law is instrumental for regulating the relationship between the employer and employees. According to CIPD (2021) this is by governing what the employers could expect from the employees, what the employers could ask employees to do and employers rights at work. In UK particularly, the employment law originates from the parliament through legislative process and in the courts through judicial decisions. Generally, as evidenced in CIPD (2022), the employment laws in UK are used in regulating the pay rates for statutory maternity leave and the National Living/Minimum Wage and Tribunal compensation limits applied in the calculation of unfair dismissal and redundancy compensation. Also, the Equality Act 2010 ensures there is no discrimination of employees due to possession of protected characteristics. In this assessment, by focusing on various scenarios, the legal issues for the organisation consideration are evaluated.

Scenario 1

As evidenced in Moore and Newsome (2018), the Employment Rights Act 1996 is relevant in evidencing the grounds in which an employee could be dismissed from their roles. This is affirmed by ACAS (2022) which is legally mandated by the UK government to promote employment law execution. According to the legislation, prior an employer dismisses the employee, they should believe that they possess a valid reason for their dismissal. In particular, the legislation quote that an employee is dismissed fairly due to gross misconduct such as theft, fraud and violence. Also, in instances where the employees fails in terms of capability, the law supports their dismissal or any other substantial reason. Nevertheless, as highlighted in CIPD (2021a) the employer must offer full reasons of dismissing an employee with entire statutory payments based on the age of the employee, length of service and the rate of weeks pay (up to a maximum) being issued.

Considering the case of John and Eric, as evidenced in the Employment Rights Act 1996, one of the core reasons an employee can be dismissed is due to conduct. Nevertheless, as stipulated in the case law by Arnold Clark Automobiles Ltd Vs Spoor UKEAT/0170/16/DA, it is essential for the Manager to appreciate the fact that not all physical violence or fighting in the places of work leads to an automatic dismissal without notice. Hence, for the dismissal of both John and Eric to be fair, the manager would need to conduct a fair and reasonable investigation considering all circumstances including the consistency of the fights, employees length of service and any mental health issue.

Scenario 2

In line with the Employment Rights Act 1996,

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