Stir-fry mixer loses an unfair dismissal claim (From Evesham Journal)

Stir-fry mixer loses an unfair dismissal claim

10:56am Thursday 28th January 2010

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AN Evesham food firm has successfully opposed a compensation claim for unfair dismissal by a stir-fry mixer accused of being involved in controversial incidents.

Moslem Mohammed Barham made his compensation claim for unfair dismissal at Birmingham Employment Tribunal against Kanes Foods Ltd.

He alleged there was a conspiracy against him after being employed for four years. But manager Michael Sutton denied the conspiracy allegation and said he had been dismissed for misconduct following several incidents.

The tribunal was told that Mr Barham allegedly refused to clear debris from the floor after claiming it was not his job. He was also accused of being aggressive. Mr Barham was alleged to have dropped a crate and was later accused of making a one finger sign to a manager which the management regarded as rude.

After he was given a final warning about his behaviour, he was eventually dismissed. Mr Barham denied he made a finger sign and said he used his thumb to indicate to the manager that everything was fine. He said the management had acted unfairly in dismissing him.

Tribunal judge Sheila Kelly raised a query about whether it had been fair for Mr Sutton to carry out an investigation into Mr Barham’s behaviour and conduct a hearing resulting in his dismissal.

But she agreed the outcome would have been the same and that Mr Barham would have lost his job because of his alleged misconduct. She said the firm had acted within the bounds of reasonable responses and rejected Mr Barham’s claim for unfair dismissal.

Roger Beard, company secretary for Kanes Foods, said: “We were very pleased with the outcome and it was what we expected.

“There were certain truths involved with it and we knew what those truths were.”

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