In Leach v The Office of Communications the Court of Appeal confirmed that a public regulatory authority had fairly dismissed an employee ‘for some other substantial reason’ following an official police disclosure alleging that he had sexually abused children, even though those allegations had not been proven. Although the employer had argued that there had been a breakdown of trust as the reason for dismissal, the facts revealed that the actual reason was the potential damage to the employer’s reputation as an organisation in which the need for public trust was paramount. In giving its judgment the CA also confirmed that “breakdown of trust is not a mantra that can be mouthed whenever an employer is faced with difficulties in establishing a more conventional conduct reason for dismissal”.
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