Tribunal Should Not Substitute its Own View for That of the Employer

In the case of E-Freight Ltd v Long UKEAT/0010/09, the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) overturned the Employment Tribunal's decision of unfair dismissal where the Tribunal had substituted its own view for that of the employer as to what constituted action justifying summary dismissal of the employee.

Mr Long managed the transport business of E-Freight Ltd. Due to a series of late deliveries, Mr Long lost the company's account for work with DHL, a major client. Mr Long did not inform E-Freight Limited about this and upon discovering that a major client had been lost, E-Freight Limited summarily dismissed Mr Long for withholding this information which was, in their view, fundamental to how the company was run and financed. Mr Long brought a claim for unfair dismissal which was upheld by the Employment Tribunal. The Tribunal held that no reasonable employer would have summarily dismissed the employee for what was in effect "poor judgment". E-Freight Limited appealed.

The EAT overturned the Tribunal's decision and declared Mr Long's dismissal fair. It held that there was no reason why the Tribunal should have considered what it would have done, had it been the employer. The reason for summary dismissal was because Mr Long, a trusted senior employee, had not disclosed to his employer that he had lost approximately one third of the company's business. In such a situation, dismissal was clearly within the range of reasonable responses available to the employer.