While most employees who have been dismissed seek only damages, there are also options for them to be re-instated into their old job, or re-engaged into another role. This case is a rare reminder that employees can apply to get their old job back and also damages.
The driver was dismissed for failing to read the amount of fuel left in a petrol tank that he was re-fueling, which lead to a spillage on the forecourt and the fire brigade being called. He was not told that other employees had reported a fault with the system. He was dismissed for bringing the company into disrepute.
Although the tribunal regarded his conduct as “culpable or blameworthy”, it decided his dismissal was “substantively unfair as he would not have been dismissed by a reasonable employer for the misreading of the ullage”.
Mr D Nolan v XPO Bulk UK Limited