Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • 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
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • 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
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Employee relationsEmployment lawEmployment tribunalsUnfair dismissal

Five costly employment tribunal awards and how to avoid similar claims

by Rob Moss 15 Oct 2013
by Rob Moss 15 Oct 2013

Employment tribunal decisions against employers occasionally see claimants awarded quite significant sums of money, costs that in many cases could have been avoided. Here, we highlight five recent cases that have seen employment tribunal judges awarding large sums and provide practical tips on how employers can reduce the likelihood of it happening to them.

The ability of organisations to follow the “Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures”, and their mishandling of situations where employees blow the whistle, are common threads in the cases featured.

Stephen Simpson, senior employment law editor at XpertHR, says: “The striking thing about a number of these cases is that the employers could very easily have avoided the claims in the first place. For example, two of the cases involve a local authority and an NHS trust, so these are large employers with substantial HR departments failing to follow basic disciplinary procedures. Their HR departments’ failures to follow the Acas code contributed to them having to pay out £169,000 and £105,000 respectively.”

We look at these five costly cases below, providing further detail on each tribunal judgment through links to XpertHR.

1. CEO awarded £107,000 after suspension for raising FSA concerns

The employment tribunal in Tamana v Fyshe Horton Finney awarded more than £107,000 to a chief executive who raised concerns with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) about the company’s relationship with a firm in the United Arab Emirates.

Issues covered: Senior employees raising legitimate concerns and failing to hear a grievance.

Read the full case report…

2. NHS trust pays £100,000 to unfairly dismissed nurses

In Biggs and another v University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the employment tribunal punished an NHS trust’s failure to follow the “Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures” by awarding more than £100,000 to two claimants who were unfairly dismissed following accusations of bullying.

Issues covered: Flaws in the disciplinary investigation.

Read full case report…

3. Male worker presumed guilty of sexual harassment awarded £169,000

In Austin v West Sussex County Council, assumptions that an individual accused of sexual harassment must be guilty cost a public-sector employer £169,000 for sex discrimination and constructive dismissal.

Issues covered: Prejudging a disciplinary investigation and failing to provide the accused with details of allegations.

Read full case report…

4. Teachers awarded £300,000 in private-school whistleblowing case

In Routledge and another v Howell’s 2000 Ltd, the employment tribunal awarded a combined total of more than £300,000 to the former headteacher of a private school and his partner, who was the head of physical education, after she was dismissed with no procedure.

Issues covered: Suspension and dismissal without reason being given.

Read full case report…

5. Whistleblowing: £3.4 million for director who raised concerns

The employment tribunal in Best v Medical Marketing International Group plc (in voluntary liquidation) made one of the largest ever tribunal awards to a company director who was automatically unfairly dismissed for raising concerns about his fellow directors’ activities.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Issues covered: Senior employees raising legitimate concerns and a failure to follow process.

Read full case report…

Rob Moss

Rob Moss is a business journalist with more than 25 years' experience. He has been editor of Personnel Today since 2010. He joined the publication in 2006 as online editor of the award-winning website. Rob specialises in labour market economics, gender diversity and family-friendly working. He has hosted hundreds of webinar and podcasts. Before writing about HR and employment he ran news and feature desks on publications serving the global optical and eyewear market, the UK electrical industry, and energy markets in Asia and the Middle East.

previous post
UK workers are ‘less happy’ than their global peers
next post
Police chief direct recruitment ‘to bypass constable rank’

1 comment

Preventing costly employment tribunal awards | Opt For Learning 1 Jun 2016 - 12:30 pm

[…] Today recently reported Five costly employment tribunal awards and how to avoid similar claims. Citing the “ability of organisations to follow the Acas code of practice on disciplinary and […]

Comments are closed.

You may also like

House of Lords to resume scrutiny of Employment...

30 May 2025

Indefinite leave to remain proposal could place workers...

30 May 2025

Black workers face greatest risk from workplace surveillance

30 May 2025

Unfairly dismissed TUC workers awarded £100k

29 May 2025

Missing mug leads to failed race discrimination claim

29 May 2025

Call-handler sues Met Police over reinstatement of offensive...

28 May 2025

WFH for important meeting was acceptable, tribunal rules

28 May 2025

Sighing in frustration at colleague was discriminatory, judge...

23 May 2025

Fire and rehire: the relocation question

22 May 2025

Restaurant tips should be included in holiday pay

21 May 2025

  • Preparing for a new era of workforce planning (webinar) WEBINAR | Employers now face...Read more
  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...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 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • 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
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+