United Kingdom: Court of Appeal finds employee was not unfairly dismissed for refusing to work over COVID-19 concerns

In brief

The Court of Appeal has upheld the decisions of the employment tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal that an employee was not automatically unfairly dismissed when his employment was terminated after he refused to attend work over COVID-19 concerns. On the facts, he did not have a reasonable belief of serious and imminent danger, and there were reasonable steps he could have taken to avert the danger. 


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Key takeaways

  • This is the first appellate decision considering the fairness of dismissal under section 100(1)(d) Employment Rights Act which protects an employee from being dismissed in circumstances of danger which they reasonably believe to be serious and imminent and where the employee could not reasonably be expected to avert the danger and they leave (or propose to leave) or, while the danger persists, refuse to return to their place of work or any dangerous part of their workplace.
  • Interestingly, the Court of Appeal considered that whilst the perceived danger need not be exclusive to the workplace, it must nevertheless arise at the workplace to be within the scope of section 100(1)(d). Whilst not an issue in this particular decision, the Court of Appeal's statements would suggest that a concern about perceived danger of commuting to work, e.g., in severe weather conditions, would not come within the scope of section 100(1)(d).
  • For more information on the facts of this case, please click here for more information.

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Rodgers v Leeds Laser Cutting Ltd

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