Employment Law
A step too far for the Human Resources Department On a number of occasions, when advising clients about disciplining employees, we see the roles of human resources and management are confused.
In the case of Ramphal v Department for Transport, Mr Ramphal was employed by the Department for Transport (“DFT”) as an aviation security compliance inspector.
An investigation was launched by the DFT into suspected misconduct by Mr Ramphal about his expenses claims. Mr Ramphal’s manager, Mr Goodchild, was appointed to carry out the investigation. He was inexperienced in dealing with disciplinary proceedings and, consequently, relied heavily on the advice and guidance of the DFT’s human resources department when writing his investigatory report. Mr Goodchild’s initial view was that Mr Ramphal had committed misconduct and the appropriate sanction was a final written warning. However, after consulting further with human resources, he decided to summarily dismiss Mr Ramphal on grounds of gross misconduct. Upon being dismissed, Mr Ramphal brought a claim against his employer for unfair
dismissal. The Employment Appeals Tribunal (“EAT”) found that the changes in Mr Goodchild’s report following human resources’ involvement were considered 'disturbing' and so striking as to give rise to an inference of improper influence. The EAT considered that such influence exceeded the human resources department’s role in providing advice and, accordingly, it referred the matter back to the Tribunal for further consideration. It is important that human resources advisers understand the extent of their involvement in a disciplinary. If they become too involved in the decisionmaking process, this may lead to dismissals being found to be unfair. This could expose an employer to unwelcome claims for compensation.
This may be a difficult balance for human resources advisers who want to use their experience and expertise to do the best for their business. As solicitors, we benefit from legal professional advice privilege. This means that normally the advice given cannot be relied upon as part of Tribunal or Court proceedings. This is not a luxury available to human resources advisers, whose advice is disclosable as part of proceedings. Of course, we also cannot make decisions for our clients and ultimately, at times, these tough decisions still have to be made. For any questions relating to the issues discussed in this article, please contact Alistair McArthur, the head of our employment team on 01189 977 4045.
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