Reasonable response

Case 7: The facts

Miss Stewart, an assistant manager in a care home, was dismissed after taking two residents to the bathroom at the same time to use the toilet while another resident was already in there, sitting naked in her wheelchair while waiting for her bath to be run. A tribunal held that, while the practice of taking residents to the bathroom together was "appalling", the dismissal was unfair because the practice had occurred on previous occasions under the former owners.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that, since the practice had been tolerated previously, the tribunal had been entitled to find that it was outside the band of reasonable responses for the employer to dismiss an employee for that reason without first warning staff that it would be tightening up its procedures. It upheld the decision that the dismissal was unfair.

Wair and Robertson and Brae Cottage Residential Home EATS/0005/06