An employee dismissed for leaving work and refusing to return because of COVID-19-related concerns was not automatically unfairly dismissed (Mr D Rodgers v Leeds Laser Cutting Ltd: [2022] EAT 69)

In the case of Mr D Rodgers v Leeds Laser Cutting Ltd [2022] EAT 69, the Employment Tribunal (ET) applied section 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) which makes the dismissal of an employee whose employment is terminated in certain instances automatically unfair (a Day 1 right and not one for which employees need two years’ service) and found Mr Rodger had not been unfairly dismissed.

The facts in the case of Mr D Rodgers v Leeds Laser Cutting Ltd

Following the start of the first national lockdown, Leeds Laser Cutting (LLC) carried out a risk assessment and put in place various safety measures to enable it to continue operating, including staggered start/finish times, providing masks and strict social distancing measures. Two days later, Mr Rodgers told his manager that he’d be staying away from work ‘until the lockdown has eased’ because of his concerns about infecting his vulnerable children. There was no contact between LLC and Mr Rodgers until his dismissal a month later. As he didn’t have the necessary two years’ service to bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim, he brought an Employment Tribunal claim of automatic unfair dismissal under ERA, s 100(1)(d) and (e) which state that it will be unfair dismissal if an employee:

  • in circumstances of danger which he reasonably believed to be serious and imminent and which he could not reasonably be expected to avert, he left or proposed to leave or refused to return to his workplace’ (ERA, s. 100(1)(d)), and
  • in circumstances of danger which the employee reasonably believed to be serious and imminent, he took (or proposed to take) appropriate steps to protect themselves or others from the danger (ERA, s. 100(1)(e)

The decision of the ET

The ET accepted that Mr Rodgers had significant concerns about COVID-19 generally. However this was not enough to bring him within the scope of the statutory protection:

  • The communication with his manager had not mentioned any workplace dangers and he could not show that there was in fact any such danger. LLC had implemented the recommended government safety guidance.
  • Despite his concerns about COVID-19, he had breached self-isolation guidelines to drive a friend to hospital and had been happy to work in a pub.
  • Mr Rodgers had not taken any steps to avert the alleged danger or raised concerns with his manager before leaving work.

While COVID-19 could potentially amount to circumstances of serious and imminent danger, to accept Mr Rodgers’ argument that, despite the safety measures in place, his belief (of a serious and imminent danger which he could not avert) was reasonable would be to accept that the very existence of the virus created circumstances of serious and imminent danger. This would lead to any employee being able to rely on s. 100 to leave the workplace, simply by virtue of the pandemic – and this was not what the legislation was aimed at. Mr Rodgers appealed.

Decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT)

The appeal was dismissed and is at the date of writing, the first appellate consideration of a COVID-19-related dismissal in such circumstances.

The EAT suggested, and the parties agreed, that leaving or refusing to return to a workplace could only fall within s. 100(d) and could not constitute the taking of an appropriate step within s. 100(e) – the appeal therefore only considered the case under s. 100(d).

The EAT accepted that, in principle, an employee could reasonably believe that there were serious and imminent circumstances of danger arising outside the workplace that prevented him from returning to the workplace. However, on the facts of this case, the ET had found that Mr Rodgers did not reasonably believe that there were circumstances of danger which were serious and imminent, either at work or at large.

The EAT stated that on a fair reading of the judgment, the ET had concluded that Mr Rodgers considered his workplace constituted no greater a risk than there was at large. LLC had taken considerable steps to avert the danger of COVID-19 infection in its workplace. Had Mr Rodgers followed those steps, the danger would have been averted. As a result the key requirement in s.100(1)d that there must be a danger that can’t reasonably be averted was not engaged.

Our solicitors’ comments on the case of Mr D Rodgers v Leeds Laser Cutting Ltd

Caroline Lewis, a Senior Associate in the employment department at Redmans, made the following comments on the case: “This is reassuring for employers who did take steps to reduce the risk of infection in the workplace that they will be well placed to defend claims presented under s. 100 based on an employee’s belief that COVID-19 presented a serious and imminent danger in the workplace. It’s worth noting however that the EAT did not rule that for a claim to be brought under s. 100 the danger had to be generated by the workplace only, so there could still be challenges ahead on this point. Even now, it’s still important for employers always to be wary of Covid-19 and ensure policies and risk assessments are taken regularly to mitigate any dangers in the workplace”.