Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Employment lawHR strategyEmployment tribunals

Employment law: why HR needs some common sense

by Personnel Today 18 Jun 2013
by Personnel Today 18 Jun 2013

In a recent feature, we asked whether HR would benefit from adopting a back-to-basics approach. Which is more important: sticking to the fundamentals (and doing them well), or gaining a positive reputation as a commercially savvy, board-worthy function? Is doing both well always achievable?

One of the points this raised was that, too often, HR can be a bit too clever for its own good, whether that’s overcomplicating what should be simple administrative processes or living by every letter of the employee manual for fear of flouting employment legislation. Either way, the “end-users”, or staff, can end up disillusioned with HR.

We look at five cases where, for reasons best known to themselves, employers have either taken their policies too seriously or have blown a less serious issue out of proportion in order to make a point. In each case, a more common-sense approach might have avoided an employment tribunal in the first place.

1. Calling in a handwriting expert for toilet graffiti

The employment tribunal of Whitehouse v Komfort Workspace plc involved an employer going to extraordinary lengths to find out who was responsible for graffiti in its factory toilets. The judge ruled that the employee, Mr Whitehouse, was unfairly dismissed, as his employer gave undue weight to handwriting experts’ evidence, which compared the handwriting of 53 employees with some blurry pictures on a mobile phone. The judge also noted that the employer had not given enough weight to Mr Whitehouse’s own evidence and hitherto unblemished record at work.

2. Zero-tolerance racism policy goes too far

In the case of Byrne v Warburtons Ltd, the employer had a (highly laudable) zero-tolerance policy on racism, but when a hygiene manager at one of its bakeries was alleged to have said “I don’t like black people; they used to bully me at school”, he was dismissed for gross misconduct after a lengthy disciplinary process. The tribunal upheld a claim for unfair dismissal, pointing out that the company had ignored evidence that Mr Byrne was talking about how he felt as a 12-year-old boy, not about his attitudes now.

3. Dismissal for “fraudulent” sick leave too heavy-handed

A tribunal involving a Mr Singh and the Royal Mail Group Ltd upheld a claim of unfair dismissal after the employee was dismissed for apparently making a fake illness claim. Mr Singh had been stabbed by a syringe while sorting through some post, had subsequently had to go to A&E and felt unable to come into work on his next rostered shift. The company did not take CCTV evidence into account and placed too much emphasis on how Mr Singh “should have reacted”, even going so far as to claim he faked the injury. The tribunal found the employer was too heavy-handed and highlighted the company’s failure to give sufficient consideration to how implausible it would be for the employee to fake an injury in this way.

4. Assuming someone is “stealing” if they shake a vending machine

The tribunal of Vladutu v NYK Logistics (UK) Ltd t/a Logistics & Mega Carrier demonstrates how employers must consider other explanations for an employee’s behaviour, even when faced with evidence that suggests misconduct. In the case, an employee was dismissed for chocolate theft after being filmed shaking a vending machine. According to the employment tribunal, it was entirely understandable that, if an employee had put his money in and not got his chocolate, he should have “given it a shake until something happened”. Because CCTV footage did not show clearly whether or not Mr Vladutu had first paid for the chocolate, the employer assumed he had stolen it. The judge ruled that this was an act of minor misconduct that did not warrant summary dismissal.

5. Focusing on the attitude rather than the evidence

In the case of Hopkins v Kosher Deli UK Ltd, the employment tribunal held that an employer placed too much emphasis on an employee’s “flippant” and “sarcastic” attitude during a disciplinary hearing. It had been alleged that Mr Hopkins had repeatedly asked another employee to run errands for him during the working day. Despite a lack of detailed vehicle tracking evidence to support this, the chair of the disciplinary panel apparently found Mr Hopkins’ demeanour too casual and the way he defended himself too flippant. The tribunal pointed out that an innocent employee might well have reacted in this way, and upheld a claim of unfair dismissal.

Avatar
Personnel Today

previous post
Overcoming your unconscious bias
next post
Compliance failure? How to stop staff forgetting (webinar)

You may also like

Davos 2022: ‘Invest in social jobs to save...

27 May 2022

P&O Ferries boss denies reputational damage after mass...

27 May 2022

Davos 2022: Upskilling workers necessary to overcome business...

26 May 2022

Davos hears that ‘wages can rise’ without creating...

26 May 2022

Employers lack data to make IR35 worker status...

25 May 2022

Maternity leave: Cost of living crisis highlights need...

25 May 2022

Aspers casino cashier excluded by colleagues wins £75k...

23 May 2022

Adapt culture to hybrid work: do not force...

20 May 2022

Women in FTSE 350 leadership: ‘A lot of...

20 May 2022

Squishy, flabby, foggy HR? Andrew Bartlow talks to...

20 May 2022
  • Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer in England PROMOTED | The University of Strathclyde is expanding its programmes...Read more
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+