The Court of Appeal has delivered its Judgment on the Adesokan v Sainsbury case. Here’s the link to the judgement:
Mr Adesokan was summarily dismissed for gross misconduct by Sainsbury’s after having been employed by the company for 26 years. He sued for wrongful dismissal. The court had to decide whether he had committed gross misconduct so as to justify summary dismissal. The High Court, held that he had and that the summary dismissal was therefore lawful. The case was then taken to the Court of Appeal, where the case was dismissed.
What are your thoughts? Please do post your reaction in the comments below.
Thanks to Sean Jones QC for the link.
This is a very interesting case of ‘guilt by association’ and the decision highlights the wide scope and elasticity of the concept of gross misconduct. The Court of Appeal confirmed that as a matter of law, negligent omissions, as opposed to dishonesty or deliberate acts, are capable of amounting to gross misconduct. In this case, Mr Adesokan, was dismissed by Sainsbury for gross misconduct because he had not done enough to correct an inappropriate email that was sent by his HR colleague to a number of managers who were under his jurisdiction. The concept of mutual trust and confidence, which we are more used to seeing deployed by claimants in constructive dismissal cases, was brought into play here where it was found that Mr Adesokan’s failure to take sufficient steps to remedy the misleading email from his colleague, had damaged the relationship between the parties to the extent that it amounted to gross misconduct.
No doubt the decision will be welcomed by employers who will have more room and flexibility to argue that a dismissal, where there has been a breach of trust and confidence, amounts to gross misconduct thereby potentially saving themselves the cost of having to dismiss with notice or pay wages in lieu.
Kevin Charles, Director at Crossland Employment Solicitors