Pride And 'Without Prejudice' - How Not To Exit An Employee

Whilst most employers these days have in place procedures to deal with underperforming employees, there is still the temptation to short cut the process and do a deal early on to avoid the pain and effort it can sometimes take to go through the formal steps to exit an employee. Without question, done at the right time, in the right way, this can be an incredibly useful tactic, but the recent decision of the Guernsey Employment & Discrimination Tribunal in Langmead v The Scout Association Bailiwick of Guernsey is an almost perfect example of how not to do it.

The employee in this case was originally employed as an administrator on 8 September 2014. It quickly became apparent that she was having difficulties in the role, making errors and giving excuses that there was too much to do or the systems were inadequate. The employer decided to hire a supervisor to support the employee in June 2015, following which the employer said it became apparent that the employee's