This was an appeal to Employment Appeal Tribunal from a decision that the claimant, who was employed as a consultant neurosurgeon, had been unfairly dismissed. The core of the Trust’s case before the Employment Tribunal was that it was entitled to dismiss the claimant because he had taken 20 months of unauthorised absence.

The claimant argued that his employer failed to take account of the reason why he had not returned to work i.e. that his health and safety and that of his patients would be endangered if he returned without the Trust addressing allegations made against him by former colleagues and generally facilitating his return to work.

The original Employment Tribunal accepted that the Trust had a genuine