Single father was unfairly dismissed

A single father who was a security guard with sole responsibility for his son took his son to work with him for a shift when his childcare arrangements fell through, without first telling his employer.  This caused concerns about security, and the third party client asked for him to be removed from that site.

The employer tried to source an alternative job, but there were none geographically close and they did not fit around his childcare responsibilities.  Rather than resigning, the employee asked to take unpaid leave while he sorted out his childcare situation. He made clear that he intended to return to work once the situation was resolved. The employer agreed to unpaid leave.

Ten months passed, during which there was little or no contact between the employee and his manager for 10 months and the manager decided that the security guard had effectively abandoned his job. It was recorded that the employee had resigned because of “family issues”.  However, he had never actually resigned, and the employer did not tell him that they had ended his employment.

Around 4 months later, the employee made contact because he had found a suitable vacancy and wanted to return to work.  He was then told that he had already been made a “leaver” and would have to go through the recruitment process again as a new employee.  This would also have meant losing the benefit of his nine years’ service.

The tribunal decided that the employer had had unfairly dismissed him as he had not resigned. He had been given unpaid leave and had said he intended to return.  The employer should have contacted him before deciding that he had abandoned his job and they did not follow a proper dismissal procedure. They did not warn him that his job was at risk, hold a disciplinary meeting or give him the opportunity to appeal.

The tribunal said that, had the employer followed a fair process, the employee would probably still have been employed.  The employee was awarded £8,320. 

This is case is a reminder that the dismissal process must be followed, particularly because in this situation the employer received a 25% penalty/uplift to the compensation because it failed to follow the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and dismissal procedures.

121 HR Solutions can provide training on managing of disciplinary situations and further information can be obtained from enquiries@121hrsolutions.co.uk.