Insecure decision

News from the employment tribunals: A security officer based at BBC New Broadcasting House has won his unfair dismissal claim against his employer, Interserve.

BECTU member Oluwagbemi Ogundolie, had worked for Interserve for 12 years when he was dismissed for failing to report an incident. He was covering for a colleague at the front desk, when an unauthorised individual was escorted out of the building by a member of staff.

Mr Ogundolie assumed that the incident would be reported by one of his colleagues for whom this was their main role and so did not report it himself.  It transpired that it had been reported but management had not raised this higher up the chain. During the investigation process, Mr Ogundolie apologised and explained that he would handle things differently should such a situation arise again. Despite this, Interserve took the decision to dismiss him for gross misconduct.

The tribunal found the sacking unfair; the allegation was minor and that there was no requirement for every Security Officer to report the breach. The judge found that Mr Ogundolie believed that a colleague would report this and his only failure was to check that this had been done. 

Mr Ogundolie:“I am extremely happy that the tribunal found that the decision to dismiss me was unfair.  I would not have been able to challenge this without the support of my trade union.”