Is this dismissal unfair?

[Karmann]

My partner has been dismissed following an argument with another member of staff who was verbally abusive to him.

On the same day, he received a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes after having felt unwell for some time. It appears that his illness has not been taken into account and that it was out of character for him to respond in the way he did.

Can they do this?

talk to acas?

Dismissed via investigation or just told you're fired?

Need more details really. How bad was the argument? I'm guessing pretty bad for him to have been fired? What happened to the other person, was he fired too? I'm assuming it came under gross misconduct. In which case, then yes they can fire him. Whether or not it's "fair" taking medical reasons into account would be for a union.tribunal to ascertain.

The argument was over the phone and this man has been verbally abusive on many occasions and DP has not reacted. This time he did.

How long has he worked there? Was there any kind of investigation and hearing? Was he dismissed with notice or outright?

The other person was not fired.

How exactly did it come about he was sacked? Was a manager listening in on the call? Was it recorded? Have management been told by the other person? What I'm getting at is, were there any witnesses, is there any proof etc?

The medical condition will have little to do with it at this stage (not dismissing it by the way)

Was your DP on a warning already?

Gawd op come on, we need more details, it's Christmas Eve we have presents to put under the tree!!!

Has there been a formal investigation, how large is the company is there an HR department?

What did he actually say, was he threatening, can he provide a doctors letter re the diagnosis?

Also, even if the other person has been verbally abusive before and your DP didn't react will not make it ok that he reacted this time.

Previously, has your DP reported the other person being verbally abusive?

I must apologise, I'm doing this on an iPad and I can't see the responses when I'm typing so I'm struggling to answer you!

I'll write it all out properly when I get my laptop unpacked - we're moving on Thursday so you can imagine the mess and stress.

Thank you for taking the time to respond on this busy evening.

Blimey yes, can imagine! Hope the move goes smoothly. I'll keep the thread on "watch"

On the face of it, if no previous warnings, it does sound unfair. My DD1 was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and I know that the months prior to her diagnosis her behaviour was 'different'.

I'd suggest posting in 'employment matters' in the hope that flowery comes along as she is MNets resident expert on employment matters.