Workplace Investigations: Lessons From A Recent Case

In brief 

• The Employment Appeal Tribunal's (EAT) recent decision in Clifton Diocese v Parker is a cautionary tale of what can go wrong in a workplace investigation, recording a series of serious procedural failings by the appointed investigator.
• Notably, the employer didn't try to appeal the employment tribunal's decision that these failings made the dismissal unfair.
• The EAT allowed the employer's appeal on the discrimination and harassment findings, which have been remitted to the same employment tribunal for redetermination. As the EAT emphasised, unfair treatment is not, by itself, evidence of discrimination — but the procedural failings in this case speak for themselves.

What happened in this case?