The range of reasonable responses
Many employers will be aware that the test for a fair dismissal is the test of the “range of reasonable responses”. This is also subject to procedural fairness requirements also.
A recent case highlights both that the test is generally a common sense approach and that whilst there are reasons for employers to argue that employment law is not in their favour, to an extent these are issues not directly related to the legal test, which in reality is quite fair to the employer.
In the case in question, a hair stylist was dismissed for deleting bookings for one of her bosses as a malicious response to issues between them. The employee claimed that the deletions were inadvertent not deliberate. However, this explanation was significantly undermined by the fact the booking removals was done under another employee’s computer login, which indicated the employee was seeking to implicate the other employee.
The Tribunal gave the explanation by the employee and her case, short shrift. Whilst this was an isolated matter, it was serious enough to equate to gross misconduct in the sense it was something which destroyed completely the duty of mutual trust and confidence inherent in the employment relationship.
