Incapacity

Case 11: The facts

Mrs McAdie went on long-term sick leave with work-related stress following her employer's failure to deal properly with her grievances. She was eventually dismissed on grounds of incapacity, and a tribunal upheld her unfair dismissal claim on the grounds that her employer was responsible for the illness that led to her dismissal.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the tribunal's reasoning was wrong. Although a tribunal can take into account the fact that the employer's conduct has caused the incapacity when considering whether dismissal was reasonable, in this case there was no alternative to dismissal.

McAdie had insisted that she was unable to return to work at all - she was asking for her employment to be terminated, but wanted compensation for it. In these circumstances, dismissal was not unreasonable and therefore not unfair.

Royal Bank of Scotland plc v McAdie EAT/0268/06