In Rodgers v. Leeds Laser Cutting Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld a decision that dismissal of an employee who refused to work due to COVID-19 safety concerns was not unfair.

National lockdown was announced on March 23, 2020. At that time, Mr. Rodgers (the Claimant) worked on the shop floor of a laser cutting factory with around five other employees. The company announced that it intended to put measures in place (such as mask availability, social distancing and staggered start and finish time) to allow them to carry on as normal.

Mr. Rodgers had two young children, one of which had sickle-cell anaemia, and did not return to work after he had completed his shift on March 27, 2020, informing the company that he would not be returning until the end of the lockdown, referencing his kids. There was no further contact between Mr. Rodgers and the company until Mr. Rodgers was dismissed. Mr. Rodgers brought a claim for automatic unfair dismissal under s100(1)(d) and (e) Employment Rights Act (ERA).

Section 100(1) makes a dismissal automatically unfair when:

• in circumstances of danger which the employee reasonably believed to be serious and imminent and which they could not reasonably be expected to avert, they left or proposed to leave or refused to return to their workplace (s100(1)(d)); or
• in circumstances of danger which the employee reasonably believed to be serious and imminent, they took (or proposed to take) appropriate steps to protect themselves or...

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