Employment Rights Act 1996 and the issue of trust

The trust placed by an employer in an employee was at the core of their relationship. The employment tribunal had been entitled to find that, where the employer had received an unproved and untested allegation of an overseas child sex offence against the employee, who had not disclosed it to the employer prior to his appointment, the resulting breakdown of trust had constituted “some other substantial reason” within the meaning of section 98(1)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 summarily to dismiss the employee in order to prevent the employer’s reputation being damaged.