Lisa Chamberlain v Stowe Valley Multi Academy Trust — 2024

Ms Chamberlain started work on 15 May 2023 as Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead. The tribunal accepted that she had left the police because of a back problem that the respondent accepted was a disability, and it recorded that she later also said she was dyslexic, although no claim was made about dyslexia. It found there were operational problems in safeguarding, that the workload was very high, and that contemporaneous text messages showed she was working hours far beyond her contract.

The overtime claim under section 13 ERA 1996 failed. The tribunal found that the contract provided for a fixed salary and only allowed paid overtime if expressly authorised in advance, which had not happened. It held that Ms Chamberlain knew at the time that the hours were unpaid overtime, so there was no contractual entitlement and no unlawful deduction from wages.

The notice-pay claim based on constructive dismissal also failed. The tribunal held that the overwork and the safeguarding decision-making concerns were not themselves breaches of contract or of mutual trust and confidence, and that by 10 November 2023 Ms Chamberlain resigned over the Child A decision, not because of any contractual breach. It therefore rejected any entitlement to notice pay.

The reasonable-adjustments claim failed because the first formal request for a desk assessment was made on 4 September 2023, the referral was being progressed, and Mr Howell had arranged to carry out the assessment on the afternoon of 10 November 2023, after which Ms Chamberlain resigned earlier that day. The unfair dismissal claim was not pursued because she had less than two years' service and the tribunal found the section 103A ERA 1996 exception was not made out; it was dismissed on withdrawal.