Furniture man's bad move leads to sack
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THE driver of a furniture removal van sacked after he had disobeyed instructions to complete the work allocated to him for the day was justifiably dismissed.
So ruled a Manchester Industrial Tribunal when it rejected a claim for compensation for unfair dismissal by Yiannis Lagogiannis of Glazier Transport Services, Stockport.
Mr Lagogiannis said that on August 8 he was given five removal jobs, but after completing three he felt he only had time for one more. He phoned the company and was told he had to do both or he would be sacked, but considered it would be dangerous to continue driving because he was tired.
The company argued that Mr Lagogiannis had been dismissed on the grounds of gross misconduct — the work allocated to him had been well within his capabilities as he had previously demonstrated.
In its decision, the Tribunal said that all five jobs involved the removal of a small amount of furniture and they were all within a few minutes' walking distance of one another.
At 16.30 hours Mr Lagogiannis phoned director Brian Glazier to say he was not prepared to work further. The Tribunal accepted that Mr Glazier tried to persuade Mr Lagogiannis to continue, but that Mr Lagogiannis refused.
The Tribunal was satisfied that Mr Lagogiannis had ample opportunity to give an explanation of his conduct on his return to base but had not done so. At that time he did not say he was tired and that it would be dangerous for him to drive.
The Tribunal found that the instruction given to Mr Lagogiannis was within the terms of his contract of employment and well within his capabilities. Because of his refusal, said the Tribunal, another vehicle and crew had to collect the furniture.
It ruled that the terms of Mr Lagogiannis's contract and the agreed procedure with the Transport and General Workers Union showed that it was gross misconduct to refuse a reasonable order and that the penalty was instant dismissal.