Unfair to dismiss employee for browsing Rightmove and Amazon
Background
In A Lanuszka v Accountancy MK Services Limited [2025], the Claimant was dismissed after using her work computer to browse websites such as Rightmove and Amazon. She received a dismissal letter from her employer stating that she was found to be “engaged in private business activities during…working hours” in “violation of our company’s code of conduct”.
The Claimant then made a claim for unfair dismissal, which the Employment Tribunal upheld.
Unfair Dismissal
Whilst conduct is a potentially fair reason to dismiss an employee, in these circumstances the dismissal was outside of the band of reasonable responses available to the employer:
- There was no evidence that workplace policies had been provided to the Claimant to inform her of the expected code of conduct. The Tribunal noted that the owner of the business often browsed the internet for personal use herself.
- Although the Tribunal took into consideration that the business was very small, it held that the employer had not carried out a sufficient investigation. Spyware had been installed on the Claimant’s computer which showed her spending an hour a day on websites for personal use, but this was not “excessive” and there had been no investigation into how the remainder of the time on the computer had been spent.
- There had been no disciplinary process followed and so the employee was deprived of any opportunity to answer the allegations. The dismissal letter had been “pre-prepared”.
- There was no convincing evidence to show that the employee had any previous misconduct issues. The dismissal letter did not refer to any warnings or previous disciplinary proceedings. It was inferred that the ‘records’ showing previous conduct issues had been filled in by the employer.
The Tribunal further commented on the strength of the parties’ evidence, stating that whilst the Claimant gave “clear” answers, the witnesses for the respondent employer were “evasive” and “contradictory”.
Takeaways
This case is a reminder of the importance of following adequate processes and shows that the Tribunal will assess the credibility of witnesses. Businesses should:
- Update records as incidents happen, to avoid the risks involved of adding them in contemporaneously.
- Have clear policies to establish the expected code of conduct, along with evidence that the policies have been provided to employees, for example, by using a new starter induction checklist.
- Comply with and record steps of policies being followed, including warnings being issued.
- Ensure that the credibility of witnesses is reviewed, if they are seeking to defend a claim to the final hearing.
