08th September 2010
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This month
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Legal updates
- Agency workers – yes and, er no
- Counting expired warnings
- Homophobic banter not grounds for a successful claim
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Case archive
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Counting expired warnings
Airbus UK Ltd. vs Webb
EAT/0453/06/DA
Key facts
Webb was dismissed for gross misconduct in 2004 after being found washing his car when he should have been working. On appeal, Airbus reduced the dismissal to a final written warning, stating that this warning was to remain on his record for 12 months. A month after the expiry of the final written warning, Webb was one of several employees found watching TV when they should have been working. The others, with no previous disciplinary action against them, were issued with final written warnings but Webb was dismissed after taking his previous conduct into account. Webb won a ruling that this was unfair due to the expiry of the previous written warning but Airbus persisted and brought this case to the Court of Appeal.
Decision
The Court of Appeal ruled for Airbus, arguing that the reason for the dismissal was the misconduct, not the expired warning. In their view the warning was relevant in Airbus deciding that he should be dismissed and was therefore reasonable grounds for them to decide to treat Webb differently to the others.
Our view
The Court of Appeal made it clear in their ruling that exceptional circumstances will be required for an employer to rely on an expired warning in this way in the future and this is unlikely to make any significant change to practice in most cases.
