Judge rules employer failed to properly investigate incident before sacking long-serving employee without a disciplinary hearing
24 August 2026
A fish packer has won more than 11,000 after she was dismissed following several alleged incidents of verbal abuse towards colleagues, an employment tribunal has ruled.
Ms Brown, who had worked for Aberdeen-based fish processor J Law for more than 11 years, was sacked after several arguments with colleagues, where she apparently used offensive language.
Despite the director’s unanimous agreement that the workplace was “happier” when she was “off area”, employment judge J Hendry found there had been “no real investigation” and that she was unfairly and wrongfully dismissed.
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She was awarded 6,147 for unfair dismissal and 4,986 in notice pay – a total of 11,133.
However, the tribunal criticised Brown’s previous conduct towards colleagues and reduced her basic award by 50 per cent.
Brown had worked in the fish industry since leaving school, and the tribunal described her as an “experienced packer of fish”. She joined J Law as a fish packer in May 2014.
The tribunal heard she had a “poor working relationship” with fellow fish packer Ms Titov, who is also referred to as Roma in the judgment, and had previously...
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