Need for Investigation Limited on Admission of an Employee's Own Wrongdoing

In Community Integrated Care Ltd (CIC) v Smith [2008] UKEATS/0015/08/MT, Miss Smith was dismissed for abusing a patient by using foul language. This was confirmed by a number of her colleagues and Miss Smith had herself admitted during her disciplinary hearing that she had spoken abusively to the patient in question. An Employment Tribunal concluded that the dismissal was nonetheless unfair, due to the inadequate investigation carried out by CIC.

The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) decided that the majority in the Tribunal had substituted their views for those of the employer. In this case, given Miss Smith's own admission during her disciplinary hearing that she had used foul language, it was evidently open to a reasonable employer to conclude that offensive language had been used. Elias J stated that "Once the employers had what appeared to be a clear admission of the wrongdoing that limited the extent of any further investigation ... the degree of investigation required is limited where the fundamental facts are not in dispute ... The position would have been otherwise had there been a real issue on the facts."

Accordingly, the EAT overturned the original Tribunal's judgment and it was held that Miss Smith's dismissal was fair.