In Awojobi (A) v London Borough of Lewisham, following concerns about Awojobi’s (‘A’) performance, an ‘improvement’ action plan was put in place but was unsuccessful. ‘A’ was dismissed for incapability as no further training could be identified and redeployment was not a viable option because she did not possess the skills required for other Council posts. An ET found the dismissal to be fair; a fair procedure had been followed, ‘A’ was placing additional burdens upon the service and fellow employees and redeployment was not feasible because it would simply be pushing the problem elsewhere.  ‘A’ appealed arguing that as a matter of principle an employer should consider redeployment prior to making a decision to dismiss on capability grounds.

The EAT rejected the appeal. There is no principle of law that an employer will be acting unreasonably if an employee is not given the opportunity of alternative employment in a less demanding role. The legal position is that set out in Bevan Harris Ltd v Gair [1981] IRLR 520, i.e. there is not necessarily an obligation upon every employer who dismisses an employee on the grounds of capability to offer him or her employment in another position; however, every case must depend upon its own circumstances. Given the circumstances in this case, the ET did not err in the way it approached the question of redeployment.

Note the phrase ‘there is not necessarily an obligation’ to redeploy in capability cases; so, while it was not reasonable to redeploy in this case, in different circumstances, a failure to do so may make a dismissal unfair.

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