Tribunal awards plumber £13K for unfair dismissal

Wednesday 09 November 2016

A plumber has been awarded £12,954 in compensation from Details Plumbing and Heating Services after he was unfairly fired, following a decision by the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal.

The Tribunal heard that Matthew Boyle was dismissed on 10th November last year, after speaking to his employer James Allen about some work he had done. It was alleged that Mr Allen had accused Mr Boyle of not testing a waste pipe, and then shouted at him, "...that's it, you're fxxking fired."

It was then also alleged that Mr Boyle had been abusive towards Mr Allen, but not evidence was submitted in support of that, and Mr Allen didn't appear before the Tribunal.

There followed a series of heated text messages in which Mr Allen was verbally abusive towards Mr Boyle and refused to pay wages that were owed to him.

Later the two also exchanged e-mails in which Mr Allen made further allegations against the applicant and used obscene language.

Mr Allen, who was not present at the Tribunal, was told his messages had been “belligerent and aggressive,” although he was later apologetic for what he said. 

He claimed Mr Boyle was under a warning when he was fired, but the Tribunal ruled that there was no evidence to back this up. 

The Tribunal said: "The Tribunal carefully considered all the evidence before it.  The Tribunal was satisfied that Mr Allen summarily dismissed the Applicant and that the dismissal occurred in the heat of the moment.  The messages from Mr Allen to the Applicant were belligerent and aggressive and suggested that Mr Allen lost control over his behaviour.  The Applicant's dismissal was clearly a direct result of Mr Allen's inability to control his temper."

Mr Boyle was awarded £10,880 compensation for unfair dismissal, £408 for wrongful dismissal, £1,258 for unpaid wages and £408 for unpaid holiday entitlement. The total amount awarded by the Tribunal was £12,954.