Important new decision on ill health dismissals
In the recent employment Appeal Tribunal case of DB Schenker Rail (UK) Ltd v Doolan set down some important principles about how an employer should deal with the inherently difficult issue of employee ill health. Also, coming out of the case, in which the original Tribunal decision that the employer had unfairly dismissed were the following useful points and principles :-
- If a GP certifies an employee as only generally fit to return to work, this does not mean that the employer must take this as medical advice that the employee can return to the same post
- Dismissal is a managerial issue not a medical one
General principles were also restated. These are worth remembering and are as follows :-
• did the employer genuinely believe the stated reason for dismissing
• was that belief based on a reasonable investigation
• did the employer have “reasonable grounds” for reaching it’s conclusion (this is important as the Tribunal cannot substitute it’s own view on the dismissal, the employer need only show objective reasonable grounds.