A recent employment tribunal decision involved a well known mobile phone provider, which became liable for a large pay out to an employee who claimed unfair dismissal after she was dismissed, along with several other members of staff when a spate of bullying got out of hand.
The employee in question was a team manager and was sacked because she had failed to tackle the allegation of bullying, that had previously been raised by the victim himself and thus she had failed to protect the employee and breached the firms policy on harassment and bullying.
The Tribunal held that her dismissal had been pre determined as there was no investigatory process to show that this manager had failed to act diligently. She was awarded a 5 figure sum in compensation.
This is a lesson that regardless of how sure you may be in undertaking a dismissal, a full investigation should always be undertaken and correctly documented to protect yourself.
On average 55 vulnerabilities are identified daily.
What can I do?
Review your organisations priorities and ask ‘can we afford a breach?’. What do I do during an incident? Who do I involve? When do I involve the ICO?
If you’re unable to answers these questions, you need help from the experts.
