You might think that this would go without saying, but when a small business dismissed two employees for a … particularly zealous approach to employee relations after office hours, it took an appeal to the appellate branch of the employment tribunal for the employees to be told that such behaviour could amount to gross misconduct.
Workplace Sex Dismissals – The Result
The Employment Tribunal had found for the employees, although it reduced their compensation for their contributory fault.
We think the right outcome was (eventually) achieved here but the employer made a big mistake by sacking the junior, female employee on the spot and bringing in an external consultant to handle the male employee’s disciplinary proceedings.
We don’t understand why the judge in the original case thought it was not a sacking offence to be caught having intercourse at work. It goes to show that even the strongest case can go against you in employment litigation.