Disciplinary record

Case 8: The facts

Pharmaceutical firm employee Morris Thomson was dismissed after failing to carry out a safety process - a failure with potentially fatal results. His employer took into account the fact that he had already received a written warning for the same misconduct, even though the warning had expired, and dismissed him.

The ruling

The Court of Session held that it is against the principle of fairness for an employer to put a time limit on a warning and then take it into account in a decision to dismiss after the expiry date. The court found that the written warning played a crucial part in the employer's decision to dismiss Thomson, as 17 other operators guilty of the same failure had not been not dismissed, and ruled that his dismissal was therefore unfair.

Diosynth Ltd v Morris Thomson [2006] CSIH 5