£66k awarded to an Engineer for unfair dismissal after calling his manager incompetent

After the engineer challenged his dismissal and raised a grievance, the tribunal ruled that the employee’s removal from his contract was ‘unjustified’. This resulted in the employer being ordered to pay costs to the employee to the value of £1,800 and £66,000 in compensation.

AB stated that he felt DC was incompetent for the role and on several occasions raised his concerns directly to DC himself and the executive director via email. His concerns were following DC’s appointment as the leader of the project (‘designated individual’), as he was a health and safety expert, not an engineer, who he felt did not have the necessary qualifications and training to undertake that role. Therefore, his opinion was that this rendered DC unable to meet the Temporary Works Forum’s guidance for appointing a designated individual.

Because of this, AB was removed from his contract for being ‘unsupportive’ and ‘obstructive’. After the employer dismissed the grievance and challenges AB raised, he appealed the decision but was later dismissed on the basis of ‘Some Other Substantial Reason (SOSR)’.

AB’s claim of automatic unfair dismissal succeeded. The judge ruled that the company did not ensure the dismissal was reasonable and fair and they should have been quicker to support and defend AB in his role.

The judge also stated, “in order to be a fair and reasonable process, the respondent would have to be satisfied that the removal was a reasonable request on the basis of the reasons given, before proceeding to consider redeployment or dismissal”.

As a result, he was awarded £66,000 in compensation.

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