Claimant v Easyjet Airline Company Limited

The tribunal found the reason for dismissal was gross misconduct relating to alleged manipulation of crew rosters. The respondent genuinely believed the claimant committed misconduct, had reasonable grounds based on data showing 85 changes to Christopher Lee's roster using the claimant's credentials and a recorded phone call, conducted a reasonable investigation, and the decision to dismiss fell within the range of reasonable responses of a reasonable employer.

The tribunal found on the balance of probabilities that the claimant did make the roster changes and was in fundamental breach of her contract of employment through dishonesty and abuse of her position, which amounted to gross misconduct, entitling the respondent to summarily terminate her employment without notice pay.

The tribunal accepted the claimant was disabled by migraines and that her sickness absence from 29 April 2023 arose from her disability. However, the tribunal found that subjecting her to disciplinary proceedings and dismissing her were not because of her sickness absence but because of the evidence of gross misconduct involving roster manipulation.

The tribunal accepted the claimant had done a protected act by presenting an employment tribunal claim on 28 July 2022. However, it found that the disciplinary process and dismissal were not because she had done a protected act but because of the evidence of roster manipulation. The dismissing manager did not know about the previous tribunal claim.