Claimant v North Ayrshire and Arran Constituency Labour Club

The tribunal found the dismissal was both substantively and procedurally unfair. There was no investigation into the allegations, the claimant was not informed of the allegations or given an opportunity to respond, no disciplinary hearing was held, and no appeal was offered. The respondent did not have reasonable grounds to believe the claimant was guilty of misconduct and the decision to dismiss did not fall within the band of reasonable responses.

While the claimant made four protected disclosures relating to GDPR compliance and data protection breaches, and the respondent accepted these were protected disclosures, the tribunal found insufficient evidence that the disclosures were the principal or dominant reason for dismissal. The disclosures may have been a factor for some committee members but were not the main reason for dismissal.

The respondent summarily dismissed the claimant for alleged gross misconduct without notice. Since the tribunal found the respondent did not have a reasonable basis to find the claimant was guilty of gross misconduct, they had no legal basis to dismiss without notice. The claimant was therefore entitled to her contractual notice pay of one month.