Oasis Community Learning v Wolff
Once a dismissal has happened the employment relationship is usually over. But where the dismissal was unfair, a tribunal could order the employer to take the employee on again.
That what's happened in this case. The question for the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) was whether re-engagement was the right remedy where the employee had made serious allegations against colleagues and his employer.
Mr Wolff was a teacher who worked for Oasis, an organisation which helps turn failing schools around. He was dismissed for his confrontational style with pupils, and brought an unfair dismissal claim. In the lead-up to that hearing he alleged that staff had fabricated evidence. He won his unfair dismissal case and the tribunal ordered re-engagement at another of the employer's sites.
Oasis argued that Mr Wolff's actions towards colleagues meant that re-engagement was not appropriate; the relationship between Mr Wolff and Oasis had broken down irreparably. The EAT didn't agree. It held that where an employee has made serious allegations against colleagues and managers at one workplace, that will not have such an impact on his relationship with colleagues and managers at a different workplace.
So if you part company with an employee on bad terms, don't assume that you won't be forced back together later on.
Once a dismissal has happened the employment relationship is usually over. But where the dismissal was unfair, a tribunal could order the employer to take the employee on again.
That what's happened in this case. The question for the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) was whether re-engagement was the right remedy where the employee had made serious allegations against colleagues and his employer.
Mr Wolff was a teacher who worked for Oasis, an organisation which helps turn failing schools around. He was dismissed for his confrontational style with pupils, and brought an unfair dismissal claim. In the lead-up to that hearing he alleged that staff had fabricated evidence. He won his unfair dismissal case and the tribunal ordered re-engagement at another of the employer's sites.
Oasis argued that Mr Wolff's actions towards colleagues meant that re-engagement was not appropriate; the relationship between Mr Wolff and Oasis had broken down irreparably. The EAT didn't agree. It held that where an employee has made serious allegations against colleagues and managers at one workplace, that will not have such an impact on his relationship with colleagues and managers at a different workplace.
So if you part company with an employee on bad terms, don't assume that you won't be forced back together later on.
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