An administrator in an accountancy firm has won a claim for unfair dismissal after being caught online shopping on her work computer.
Anna Lanuszka was the only full-time employee at Accountancy MK in Milton Keynes. The founder, Ms Krauze, occasionally employed her sister and her husband.
In July 2023, Lanuszka was summarily dismissed and was handed a letter stating that she was “engaged in private business activities” during working hours, and that this was “a direct violation of our company’s code of conduct”.
Although a number of policies and documents were presented by the firm to the tribunal, Lanuszka denied ever having seen a code of conduct.
Unfair dismissal
She also told the tribunal that she had no knowledge of a formal warning the firm claimed to have given her in March 2023. She was first informed of concerns about her conduct on the date of her dismissal, the panel heard.
The company alleged that there had been a series of performance issues with the administrator between December 2022 and July 2023, and showed the tribunal diary records of these issues.
However, the employment judge noted that there was “very little documentation” supporting these issues and “of that which there is, much of it is in dispute”.
Lanuszka claimed the documentation, including the diary entries, had been created for the purposes of the tribunal proceedings and were not genuine.
It emerged that Krauze had placed spyware software on Lanuszka’s computer in July 2023, enabling her to record her employee’s activities. This detected that over two days that month, she had spent 2 hours, 33 minutes on the computer, of which 1 hour 24 minutes were for “personal matters”.
Lanuszka accepted that she had viewed the online estate agency Rightmove and had visited Amazon and Very to do some online shopping at lunchtime. She also told the tribunal that Krauze sometimes used her work computer for personal matters.
Her dismissal letter stated that the firm had conducted a “thorough investigation” in the matter, but no disciplinary hearing or discussion had taken place.
There was also a question at the tribunal as to the commencement date of Lanuszka’s employment.
Krauze set up Accountancy MK Services Ltd in 2021 after Accountancy MK ceased trading. Launszka continued to perform the same role but had signed a new contract with the “new” company in September 2021, which would have meant she had just under two years’ service in July 2023 when she was dismissed.
Employment Judge Magee concluded: “Ms Krauze was aware of the two-year qualifying period for an unfair dismissal claim and had concluded that Ms Lanuszka did not have the right to bring a claim.
“The Tribunal concludes that Ms Krauze had determined to dismiss Ms Lanuszka prior to her accruing sufficient continuity of service to bring an unfair dismissal claim.”
He ruled that the reasons for her dismissal were otherwise “unclear” as there had been no previous underlying performance concerns or warning.
“By installing the spyware on Ms Lanuszka’s computer, Ms Krauze intended to gather evidence to support a dismissal of Ms Lanuszka.
“The Tribunal concludes that it was Ms Krauze’s desire to dismiss Ms Lanuszka before Ms Krauze believed that she would accrue two years’ service that was the real reason for Ms Lanuszka’s dismissal and not conduct,” he added.
Lanuszka was awarded £14,100 for loss of earnings, including a 20% uplift for the company’s failure to follow the Acas code.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
