Judgment approved by the court Vaultex UK Ltd v Bialas compensatory awards by 25%. The tribunal went on to calculate those awards, applying that reduction to figures that had otherwise been agreed by the parties. The Law 16. Section 98 Employment Rights Act 1996 provides (omitting irrelevant parts) as follows: “98 General. (1) In determining for the purposes of this Part whether the dismissal of an employee is fair or unfair, it is for the employer to show— (a) the reason (or, if more than one, the principal reason) for the dismissal, and (b) that it is either a reason falling within subsection (2) or some other substantial reason of a kind such as to justify the dismissal of an employee holding the position which the employee held. (2) A reason falls within this subsection if it— … (b) relates to the conduct of the employee, … (4) Where the employer has fulfilled the requirements of subsection (1), the determination of the question whether the dismissal is fair or unfair (having regard to the reason shown by the employer) — (a) depends on whether in the circumstances (including the size and administrative resources of the employer’s undertaking) the employer acted reasonably or unreasonably in treating it as a sufficient reason for dismissing the employee, and (b) shall be determined in accordance with equity and the substantial merits of the case.” 17. In this case, the dismissal was found to be by reason of conduct, and, at the section 98(4) stage, was ultimately found to be unfair because of the conclusion that the tribunal reached in relation to the decision to impose the sanction of dismissal for that conduct. 18. As the present tribunal correctly identified, when considering the reasonableness of the sanction of dismissal for the purposes of section 98(4), the tribunal should apply a band of reasonable responses test. The tribunal cited the formulation of this test by Phillips J in the EAT in Trust Houses Forte Leisure Ltd v Aquilar [1976] IRLR 251. Ms Clarke, in submissions, cited the following passage from © EAT 2024 Page 9 [2024] EAT 19