Is there enough evidence?
Indecent images case prompts employer warning
For a dismissal to be fair, an employer needs to have a potentially fair reason to dismiss – such as misconduct, redundancy or ‘some other substantial reason’ (SOSR) - and the decision to dismiss must be within the range of reasonable responses. In cases where an employer’s reputation may be at risk, conduct and SOSR can overlap. The Employment Appeal Tribunal has looked at this issue recently in K v L.
A teacher was charged with possessing indecent images of children, but he denied being responsible for them. He was suspended from work pending an investigation. The Procurator Fiscal (the Scottish equivalent of the CPS) decided not to prosecute. The police evidence provided to the employer was redacted beyond use, so it wasn’t given to the disciplining officer. The employer concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to show the employee was responsible for downloading the images. However, he was dismissed for misconduct and the potential risk he posed to children. The dismissal letter also cited the risk of reputational damage, something which hadn’t been part of the hearing.
The employee claimed unfair dismissal. He lost at the employment tribunal, but the Employment Appeal Tribunal overturned that decision. The EAT said that dismissing for reputational damage wasn’t fair because the employee had not been given an opportunity to address those allegations at the disciplinary hearing. They also said that the decision to dismiss on conduct grounds was flawed: an employer must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the employee committed the offence in question. The disciplining officer had said there wasn’t enough evidence to make out misconduct, so the decision to dismiss on conduct grounds was not reasonable.
The EAT went on to look at whether the employee could have been fairly dismissed for SOSR if the employer had pursued reputational damage as the reason for dismissal. They referred to a previous case called Leach v Ofcom, where a reputational damage dismissal had been fair. The EAT said this case was very different from Leach. In Leach, there was detailed information from the police to support the allegations, which there wasn’t in this case. The employer in Leachinvestigated the police evidence rather than simply accepting it – there wasn’t that opportunity in this case as there was no comparable police evidence. In Leachthere was existing press interest in the case, and a real risk of adverse press coverage, which wasn’t present here.
It’s hard to believe that it could ever be unfair to dismiss a teacher when indecent images of children are found on devices in their home. But this case shows the importance of an evidence base for these decisions, both in relation to misconduct and any risk of reputational damage. Employees must also be given an opportunity to deal with all relevant issues at the disciplinary hearing for a dismissal to be fair.
