Contract did not allow increase in sanction

In McMillan v Airedale NHS Foundation Trust the Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court decision that a contractual disciplinary procedure could not be interpreted as allowing the employer to increase a sanction from a written warning to dismissal when the employee, who was a doctor, appealed against the written warning. The Court of Appeal considered that implying such a power would be inconsistent with the right of appeal which was intended to benefit the employee, not for him to risk being worse off. The employee was therefore granted a permanent injunction preventing the employer from reconsidering the disciplinary sanction on appeal.

This legal update is provided for general information purposes only and should not be applied to specific circumstances without prior consultation with us.

For further details on any of the issues covered in this update please contact Gemma Ospedale, Partner in Employment on 020 7583 2222.