Unfair dismissal claim settled before tribunal

• Dismissed without a fair process
• Negotiated through ACAS early conciliation
• Settlement agreed, no tribunal needed

The situation

Our client was a warehouse supervisor who had worked for the same distribution company for eleven years. He had a clean disciplinary record and had trained most of the team on his shift.

After a stock count showed a shortfall, he was called into a meeting with his manager and told he was being dismissed for gross misconduct. There had been no investigation and no letter inviting him to a disciplinary hearing. He was not told he could bring a colleague, and he was given no chance to appeal. He received a two line letter confirming the dismissal a few days later.

He came to us a little over a month after his last day. He was worried about paying his mortgage and did not know whether he had a claim or how long he had to make one.

What we did

On the first call we confirmed his dates and worked out the deadline for a tribunal claim. Because he had more than two years of service, he had the right not to be unfairly dismissed, and the employer had not followed even the basic steps in the ACAS code of practice on disciplinary procedures.

We started ACAS early conciliation straight away, which protected his position on time limits. We then wrote to the employer setting out why the dismissal was unfair, the steps that had been missed and the compensation he could expect if the case went to a hearing. We prepared a schedule of loss covering his lost earnings, his pension contributions and the time we expected it to take him to find similar work.

The ACAS conciliator passed our letter to the employer. Their first response was that the dismissal was justified. We replied with the evidence that no investigation had taken place, and pointed out that a tribunal can increase compensation where an employer unreasonably fails to follow the ACAS code.

Over the following three weeks we exchanged offers through the conciliator. Our client told us what mattered most to him, which was a fair payment and a reference that would not stop him finding another job.

The outcome

The employer agreed to pay a sum equal to around eight months of his salary, along with an agreed reference confirming his role and length of service. The settlement was recorded on an ACAS form, which made it binding without the need for a separate agreement.

The claim never had to be issued at the tribunal. Our client was paid within four weeks of agreeing terms and started a new supervisor role shortly afterwards.

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