DISABILITY RELATED DISMISSAL IN BURDETT

摘要

An employee sexually assaults female colleagues and threatens a security guard. He is charged and found guilty of criminal assaults. In disciplinary proceedings he admits the assaults and it comes to light that he has a police caution for a previous sexual assault. There would appear little doubt that an employer in this situation could safely dismiss for gross misconduct. However what if the assaults were as a result of the employee having a mental illness and failing to take certain medication? The case of Burdett v Aviva Employment Services Ltd UKEAT/0439/13 highlighted that in this type of situation where an employee's misconduct has been caused by a medical condition an employer may not necessarily be acting fairly when deciding to dismiss.