Car customiser bags £6k after boss’s firing blunder

Friday 21 December 2018

A vehicle finisher who was fired after his boss accused him of smoking too close to flammable liquid has been awarded over £6,000 in the Employment Tribunal.

Oz Vehicle Workshop Limited was given the order to pay ex-employee David Truscott by Chair Hilary Griffin, who found that the car company had unfairly and wrongfully dismissed Mr Truscott, and failed to provide him with pay slips.

The tribunal heard that Mr Truscott had been employed as a vehicle refinisher and paintwork preparer for around a year-and-a-half when he was suddenly informed in June this year that his boss, Mr Osborne, would not be renewing his contract.

The dismissal, the Tribunal was told, happened “without notice and without payment in notice”, with Mr Truscott none the wiser as to why he had been fired.

Pictured: Mr Truscott's boss accused him of smoking near flammables, but he denied that he had done so recently.

Mr Osborne later said that this was due to three key conduct issues: smoking on the premises due to flammable liquid, working in competition with his company in his spare time, and Mr Truscott’s failure to sign a new contract. 

But Mr Truscott disputed the reasons given.

He said that he had smoked while at work in the past, but not during the period suggested, adding that he had never been formally disciplined for doing so.

The vehicle paintworker also suggested that there was “no evidence” that he had worked elsewhere in his spare time. In any case, he said that this allegation was never raised with him, leading him to remain “unaware of Mr Osborne’s suspicions”.

Mr Truscott added that he had taken time over signing a new contract because he wanted to first examine the new working arrangements – one of which involving a reduction in holiday pay – and hadn’t been able to do so immediately because he had been on holiday.

He further contended that he hadn’t been regularly provided with itemised pay slips – a requirement of the Employment Law.

But Mr Osborne said that this had not been specifically requested, stating that he had stopped printing statements because he had noticed other employees leaving their private pay statements “lying around” at work.

Ms Griffin concluded that she understood the reasons that Mr Truscott had been fired, but noted that his boss had not followed any appropriate displarinary process prior to this.

Mr Truscott therefore had no opportunity to “defend himself or to understand the reason for his dismissal,” she said.

The Chair continued: “Whilst the Tribunal accepts that the Respondent is a small employer without a Human Resources department, this does not preclude the Respondent for conducting a fair disciplinary procedure before imposing the severe sanction of dismissal on its employees.” 

As a result, she made an order for the company to pay Mr Truscott £6,104 – over £4,000 for unfair dismissal, £610.46 as damages for wrongful dismissal and the same amount again as compensation for failure to provide pay statements.