A case pitting a British employer against an employee who had been automatically fired for making personal telephone calls from work has been dismissed, along with an appeal attempt made by the employer.
A London Employment Appeal Tribunal ordered that the employee, who was interviewed without warning and then dismissed from her job, was treated unfairly. The Tribunal suggested that the employer needed to conduct a full investigation before regarding personal use of the telephone as automatically dishonest.
The Tribunal added that this ruling does not suggest employees should be immune from receiving disciplinary action when making personal calls, but it does set a precedent that employers should at least seek to apply an appropriate test for dishonesty, such as determining whether the conduct was obviously dishonest by ordinary standards.
Based on a report from WorkplaceLaw.net, originally reported in the London Times
