Employee succeeds with unfair dismissal claim for unauthorised absence

In the recent Employment Tribunal case of Mr Ceesay v City Facilities Management Ltd: 1804762/2019 an Employment Tribunal sitting at Leeds decided that the Claimant had been unfairly dismissed.

The background to the case is that the Claimant had asked to urgently use annual leave because, “his mother was seriously unwell and required significant cardiac surgery.” The Claimant’s mother resided in Gambia and the Claimant thus needed to travel there in order to see her. The Respondent Company rejected the request on the basis that the Claimant had not given sufficient notice to take the leave and was not eligible for extended leave under the Company’s annual leave policy. The Claimant was only entitled to the three days that he had accrued as annual leave but this was insufficient for the travel to Gambia. The Claimant made it clear that he intended to take the extended leave anyway as he considered it a family emergency.

After the Claimant had returned from Gambia the disciplinary procedure was engaged to consider whether the unauthorised absence amounted to misconduct. The disciplinary officer decided that the Claimant had not notified the Company of his extended absence and that there were no mitigating circumstances. He thus decided that the appropriate sanction would be to terminate the Claimant’s employment.