Tribunal gives workers right to respond to allegations

Employees must be given the opportunity to respond to complaints made against them before being dismissed, an employment tribunal has ruled.

After it was alleged that he assaulted a fellow coach, boxing coach Kelvin Travis was suspended pending an investigation. A director of the club that employed him appointed an outside third party to hold the disciplinary hearing. The club dismissed Travis on the basis of the consultant's report, which recommended dismissal.

The tribunal found that Travis was unfairly dismissed because he was not given the opportunity to respond to complaints made against him, and was not informed of any new information arising from the investigation.

The directors should have carried out the disciplinary procedure internally, and were wrong to adopt a third party's decision without meeting to discuss it or considering the report in detail.

The appeal hearing did not rectify the unfairness of the procedure - conducted by one of the three directors involved in the decision to dismiss, it simply considered whether there was any new evidence that should alter that decision, rather than being a full re-hearing of the case.

Amateur Boxing England v Travis UKEAT/0108/04