The Claimant was dismissed by the Respondent on 26 July 2013. She worked 10 hours per week and was paid £61.90 per week. The Claimant had taken the respondent’s children to Portrush for the day without seeking the respondent’s permission or authority for doing so and had kept the children out all day while the respondent expected them back at lunchtime. The claimant argued that the failure to follow the statutory disciplinary procedures rendered the dismissal automatically unfair and that the respondent failed to provide written terms and conditions of employment. She claimed breach of contract and unfair dismissal.

The Tribunal found the claimant’s claim of unfair dismissal to be well-founded and her claim in relation to failure to supply written terms and conditions of employment was also well-founded.

However, the tribunal considered the claimant’s failure to properly inform the respondent of her trip with the children a ‘serious breach of t rust’ which merited a 75% reduction in any award made. This is an important indication from the tribunal that despite their finding of an automatically unfair dismissal, where appropriate, a significant reduction in the award can be made where it feels that the claimant’s conduct clearly affected the mutual trust and confidence between the parties. In relation to the failure to provide written terms and conditions, an award of two weeks’ pay was sufficient. It was not appropriate to make an award for failure to provide payslips nor did the claimant’s warrant any holiday pay.

The award amounted to £445.65 made up of:

Basic award: Three week’s pay: £185.70 (£61.90 x 3)

Notice pay: £185.70 (£61.90 X 3)

Uplift of award for failing to follow the Statutory Dismissal and Disciplinary Procedures (20% uplift): £74.28

Practical lessons from this decision

This case demonstrates the perils of failing to follow the statutory dismissal procedure for employers, with a resulting 20% uplift in the award. Whilst a childminder may not be considered the orthodox ‘employee’ to many, this example clearly shows that where they are considered as such then properly conducting a dismissal pursuant to the legislation is advised. Dismissing an employee without following this process, irrespective of the reasonableness, can render a dismissal automatically unfair.