Sickness and dismissal

Case 3: The facts

Mr Smith worked for the Royal Mail. He had a poor sickness absence record, although there was no suggestion that these absences were for anything other than genuine illness.

He was dismissed because the Royal Mail believed it was important that it could rely on employees turning up for work.

The ruling

The EAT accepted that tribunals could take account of mitigating factors when deciding whether a dismissal for sickness absence was fair. These might include the length of the employee's service and the nature of the illnesses. Taking these into account, the dismissal was unfair.

Royal Mail Group v Smith EAT/0715/03