Mrs Stephanie Powell v Lifeways Community Care Limited — 2022

The claimant resigned after a grievance had been raised against her by another employee and after the respondent issued her with an informal verbal warning. The tribunal found that the respondent had provided relevant training or that the claimant was in any event aware of the correct procedure, and that the informal warning was within the respondent's remit and did not amount to a fundamental or repudiatory breach of trust and confidence.

The tribunal did not accept several matters relied on by the claimant as having formed part of her reason for resigning, including alleged comments by a manager, complaints about recruitment calls, contact with management, and a number of issues first raised in her witness statement. It found that an accidental disclosure about the grievance through Teams and calendar settings was an innocent mistake, was apologised for, and was not capable, either alone or cumulatively, of destroying or seriously damaging mutual trust and confidence.

The tribunal found that the respondent's handling of the claimant's own grievance did not support the constructive dismissal claim. It accepted that any delay in delivering the grievance outcome did not cause material prejudice and did not amount to conduct meeting the relevant threshold. It also found that the claimant had secured better paid employment and that this, together with her dissatisfaction with the informal warning and rejected complaints, explained her resignation.

On the bonus claim, the tribunal found the bonus scheme was discretionary and expressly provided that no payment would be made if the employee was under notice on the payment date. As the claimant resigned on 28 March 2022 and the payment was due in April 2022 while she was serving notice, she was not entitled to the bonus payment.