Latest in Employment Law>Case Law>Ramphal v Department For Transport [2015] UKEAT 0352_14_0409
Ramphal v Department For Transport [2015] UKEAT 0352_14_0409
Published on: 09/11/2015
Issues Covered: Dismissal
Article Authors The main content of this article was provided by the following authors.
Legal Island
Background

In this Employment Appeal Tribunal case from GB the Claimant was employed by the Respondent as an Aviation Security Compliance Inspector and the Respondent launched an investigation into possible misconduct by the Claimant in relation to his expenses and use of hire cars. An inexperienced manager, Mr Goodchild, was appointed to investigate and discipline, if necessary. He took a lot of advice from the HR department, as you might expect an inexperienced manager to do.

However, the advice was not confined to procedural and similar matters but bled into areas concerning culpability and credibility. Mr Goodchild was initially disposed to believe that the claimant had made mistakes, rather than intentionally defrauded the employer. However, it appears that the HR department had influenced him and later reports changed the finding from 'misconduct' to 'gross misconduct'. 

This case should be of interest to Irish HR professionals and others concerned with workplace investigations - the UK Supreme Court case of Chhabra referenced by the EAT is often referred to by Irish employment lawyers. Allowing the appeal against the findings of the employment judge who had failed to explain his reasoning, the EAT concluded:

"Although a dismissing or investigating officer is entitled to seek guidance from Human Resources or others, such advice should be limited to matters of law and procedure and to ensuring that all necessary matters have been addressed and achieve clarity. Chhabra v West London Mental Health NHS Trust [2014] ICR 194 applied.

"A Claimant facing disciplinary charges and a dismissal procedure is entitled to expect that the decision will be taken by the appropriate officer, without having been lobbied by other parties as to the findings he should make as to culpability, and that he should be given notice of any changes in the case he has to meet so that he can deal with them."
http://bit.ly/1J7z2sW 

Continue reading

We help hundreds of people like you understand how the latest changes in employment law impact your business.

Already a subscriber?

Please log in to view the full article.

What you'll get:

  • Help understand the ramifications of each important case from NI, GB and Europe
  • Ensure your organisation's policies and procedures are fully compliant with NI law
  • 24/7 access to all the content in the Legal Island Vault for research case law and HR issues
  • Receive free preliminary advice on workplace issues from the employment team

Already a subscriber? Log in now or start a free trial

Disclaimer The information in this article is provided as part of Legal Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article. This article is correct at 09/11/2015
Q&A
Legal Island’s LMS, licensed to you Imagine your staff having 24/7 access to a centralised training platform, tailored to your organisation’s brand and staff training needs, with unlimited users. Learn more →