The Claimant had brought numerous grievances against senior managers. However, he refused to progress any of the grievances to the formal stage, instead seeking to retain the ability to do so, and neither did he withdraw the grievances. A grievance hearing proceeded in his absence and the grievances were not upheld. The Respondent considered the Claimant’s conduct to amount to gross misconduct in that he had brought numerous vexatious and frivolous grievances and had refused to comply with a reasonable management instruction to attend the meeting. He was dismissed. The ET found that his dismissal was fair. The Claimant appealed.

The EAT dismissed the appeal. The ET had not erred in its approach. The test under s98(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 involved a consideration of all the circumstances, one of which might include, in some cases, the fact that the conduct relied upon involved a breach of contract amounting to gross misconduct. However, there was no such contractual element in this case and an analysis on that basis was not required. The ET was entitled to conclude that the employer had acted reasonably in treating the reason for dismissal, namely the claimant’s conduct as described, as being a sufficient reason to dismiss in all the circumstances.