Postman ‘unfairly sacked’ for working as taxi driver during sick leave

A postman was unfairly sacked after working as a taxi driver while on sick leave, a tribunal has ruled.

Leigh Weston was off work with a painful hip and anxiety when he was seen by bosses at a cab rank in the area where he delivered parcels, an employment tribunal heard.

Mr Weston won his case because Royal Mail did not conduct a proper investigation, and was awarded £3,011 for unfair dismissal. But the panel said he was wrong to drive his cab during the hours he was contracted to work as a postman.

The day after he was seen sitting in his taxi in June 2023, his boss called to say he had been “caught”, before an investigation was launched.

The hearing was told there was no policy in Mr Weston’s Royal Mail contract that meant he had to notify bosses that he was working another job while on sick leave.

The tribunal also found bosses should not have assumed he was fit to deliver mail because he was able to drive his taxi, as it was a less physically demanding job.

Accident at work

The tribunal, in Glasgow, heard Mr Weston was employed as a postman at the Inverclyde delivery office in the lowlands of Scotland from 2007 until his dismissal in September 2023.

His duties involved delivering letters and parcels on foot, sometimes walking up to 10 miles in a single shift.

Mr Weston had an accident at work in early 2022, in which he injured his hip. The hearing was told that when he returned to work in May that year he also began working as a taxi driver. At this point he worked shifts as a postman three days a week, and his managers were aware he was also a self-employed cab driver.

In November 2022, his hip pain became worse and he took on “light duties” in the delivery office instead of working on foot. He resumed full postman duties at the start of 2023 but told Ian Dunn, his manager, that his hip pain had returned.

Eventually, he went off sick for a month and stopped his taxiing. He informed Royal Mail he was ready to return to full duties, but Mr Dunn told him not to do so until MRI scans had come back, and he was placed on further sick leave.

Mr Weston told his manager he planned to return to taxi driving while on sick leave, but Mr Dunn never followed up.

‘No express contractual or policy term’

The tribunal heard: “[Mr Weston] was taxiing in Inverclyde close to where he worked. He made no effort to conceal his taxi driving in the local area, where there was a fair chance of being sighted by a Royal Mail colleague at some stage.

“[Mr Weston]’s perception at the time, based on previous interactions with [Mr Dunn], was that there was no scope for him to return to work for [the Royal Mail] on adjusted duties. Based on those interactions, he also perceived that there was no scope to return to his full contracted duties as a postman, pending his MRI scan.

“There was no express contractual or policy term which obliged [Mr Weston] to inform [the Royal Mail] during sick leave of an intention to work with a different employer or of an intention to undertake other self-employed work.”

During the investigation, Mr Weston remained off sick and worked as a taxi driver, including during his contracted Royal Mail hours. He was receiving half pay at this stage, in 2023. By the end of August that year, his sick pay was reduced to the statutory sick pay rate.

Stuart Donaldson, the lead customer operations manager, took over the disciplinary investigation. The tribunal found Mr Donaldson’s questions indicated that “he had already formed a view” on Mr Weston’s behaviour.

In a disciplinary hearing, Mr Donaldson asked: “To clarify. You are unfit to return to work due to anxiety which also stops you from socialising and you feel anxious around friends, but you are fit to drive a taxi with strangers in your vehicle? Is that correct?”

Mr Weston said that this was correct, to which Mr Donaldson replied: “You have to see this from my point of view, this doesn’t add up.” Mr Donaldson sacked Mr Weston in September 2023.

‘Quite different in terms of physical demands’

The tribunal found that during Royal Mail’s investigation, it should have asked occupational health or Mr Weston’s GP whether his symptoms were incompatible with his fitness to work as a taxi driver.

“On the face of it, the two jobs are quite different in terms of their physical demands,” Employment Judge Lesley Murphy said. “[The occupational health] report also referred to workplace stressors with [the Royal Mail] which may or may not have applied to other work.”

The tribunal found that Royal Mail did not carry out a “reasonable, even-handed” investigation into Mr Weston’s conduct and upheld his claim of unfair dismissal.

His claims for harassment related to disability, victimisation and wrongful dismissal were all dismissed.

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