Conduct dismissal

Case 1: The facts

Residential care worker David Sharp was dismissed for gross misconduct because he had not called for an ambulance for an elderly patient, judging that the shock of being taken off in an ambulance might be too much for her. He believed that this could not amount to gross misconduct.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) defined gross misconduct as where the employer is justified in no longer tolerating the continued presence at the place of work of the employee who has committed the offence. The EAT said that in its view the employer was not being unreasonable in deciding that what Sharp had done was gross misconduct.

* Sharp v Fourseasons Healthcare EAT/0078/03