Expired warning

Case 10: The facts

This claim of unfair dismissal was brought by three former colleagues. Two of them, dismissed for failing to carry out a safety procedure and falsifying records, claimed that another colleague had not been dismissed for similar behaviour.

The third claimant, Morris Thomson, said that the employer had unfairly taken into account an expired warning relating to his failure to carry out the procedure.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the first two claimants had been fairly dismissed, because the circumstances of their dismissal differed from those of the other employee (who had only once failed to carry out the procedure and had not falsified records).

However, it held that Thomson's dismissal was unfair, as the warning he had been given had expired.

Fleming and others v Diosynth EATS/0034/04