In this case, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) upheld the Employment Tribunal (“ET”)'s decision that the Respondent had fairly dismissed the Claimant for failing to disclose in a job application that he had been previously dismissed for gross misconduct.
The Claimant applied for a role at the Respondent. In a free-text box to describe his employment history, the Claimant only listed years of employment, and not specific months. As such, the Claimant provided no indication of a previous three-month employment gap nor that he had been dismissed by a previous employer for gross misconduct, involving inappropriate behaviour towards females and temper issues.
The Claimant joined the Respondent. The Respondent subsequently became aware of the Claimant's previous dismissal for gross misconduct and started a disciplinary investigation. It concluded that the Claimant had been dishonest by omitting information from his application and dismissed him for gross misconduct.
The ET dismissed the Claimant’s unfair dismissal claim and decided dismissal was a reasonable response and fair in all the circumstances. The ET decided it was significant that the Claimant had agreed in his job application to a declaration stating, "I understand my application may be rejected or I may be subject to disciplinary action if I've given false information or withheld relevant details."
On appeal, the Claimant stated that the application form lacked guidance and did not specify a requirement to include unemployment dates or reasons for leaving previous employers.
The EAT, however, dismissed the appeal and concluded that the Claimant's arguments were all aired in the disciplinary process and the Respondent's approach had been considered carefully by the ET. It decided that a reasonable applicant would have understood that a full and transparent account needed to be provided in the application form, including information about any gaps in employment.
This case highlights that the level of detail requested in a job application, and the requirement for a declaration in relation to the accuracy and completeness of the information provided, can be highly relevant to the fairness of a subsequent decision to dismiss for the omission of relevant information. It is therefore important to have robust application processes, with clear guidelines on what information is required.