At a Reading Employment Tribunal, an HR Administrator - Mrs H Bagri - was found to have been unfairly dismissed by Oracle Corporation UK Limited.
Judge Andrew Gumbiti-Zimuto found that after her employment was transferred from NetSuite - a cloud computing company - there was failure to consult with her during a company-wide restructuring exercise.
A further complaint of breach of contract was dismissed.
Mrs Bagri commenced employment with NetSuite in November 2010 as an HR Administrator. She has a 1st class degree in Business and Human Resource Management and a Level 7 CIPD diploma.
On 1st January 2017, Mrs Bagri was transferred from NetSuite to Oracle, having previously been told by her line manager at Netsuite - in November 2016 - that she was under threat of redundancy and that her employment could end in May 2017. However, this information was not correct and in December 2016 Mrs Bagri was informed by the Vice President Human Resources at Oracle that - at that time - no decision on headcount had been made regarding NetSuite or Mrs Bagri.
In February 2017, the Vice President HR undertook a review of the needs of the HR team. She concluded that a business reorganisation was required and that Mrs Bagri’s role would no longer exist. The reason for this was that her task - that of arranging the changeover of NetSuite employees to Oracle - could be automated.
On 1st March 2017, Mrs Bagri was notified by letter that her role was at risk. She stated that after receiving the letter she had no further contact with the HR team about her role, nor did she have any consultation meetings. She was dismissed on 31st May 2017.
Mrs Bagri appealed against the decision to dismiss her. She stated that she was made redundant because of the transfer from NetSuite to Oracle. She was informed that the appeal process was to be conducted on paper and by way of written correspondence, and was not invited to an appeal meeting dealt with by the Vice President EMEA HR for Oracle - who said that she “did not feel that the points raised within the appeal required any further direct questions to Mrs Bagri” and dismissed the appeal.
When Mrs Bagri brought claims of unfair dismissal and breach of contract to the Reading Tribunal on 29th August 2017, she argued that the transfer was the reason for her dismissal. She said that she had been told there would be individual consultations but that Oracle had not invited her to any meetings and there was no evidence of any formal meetings - which Oracle said had occurred - taking place. Mrs Bagri stated that she was of the opinion that Oracle had no intention of retaining her after the transfer and did not try to incorporate her into the HR team or the company.
Oracle argued that Mrs Bagri did not seem interested in remaining in the business and that despite her role as a qualified and experienced HR professional she did not complain about the redundancy process.
The Tribunal, however, ruled that Mrs Bagri had been unfairly dismissed, stating that there was a “50 per cent chance that she would have continued in employment if she was not unfairly dismissed”. The Judge ruled that no proper consultation with Mrs Bagri had taken place about ways to avoid redundancy.
Angela Brumpton - Partner at Gunnercooke - remarked:
“Some employers see appeals as a box-ticking exercise, or a necessary evil, when actually a thorough appeals process can cure procedural defects. Savvy employers embrace appeals as an opportunity to review the initial process and plug any gaps.”
She added that businesses should also use appeals as an opportunity to “fix any deficiencies in the initial dismissal”.
