Mr J Griggs v Dever Springs Ltd — 2025

Mr J Griggs was employed by Dever Springs Ltd from 1 December 2017 to 7 May 2024 as a Fisheries Assistant and later Fisheries Assistant Manager. He brought a claim for unfair dismissal arising from his dismissal on redundancy grounds. At the hearing, he withdrew an earlier constructive dismissal allegation because he had not resigned.

The tribunal found that the Respondent had been suffering progressively increasing losses, including £16,926 in 2021/22, £90,085 in 2022/23 and £121,576 in 2023/24. It accepted that by early 2024 Mr Liddell was considering restructuring the business, including closing the fishery to the public and operating it as a smaller private members' club, and that when the manager and assistant manager were both absent on sick leave on 23 February 2024 the fishery was closed to the public and the staff were placed at risk of redundancy.

The tribunal held that there was a genuine redundancy within s.139 ERA 1996 and that redundancy was the reason for dismissal under s.98(2)(c) ERA 1996. It rejected the claimant's suggestion that he had been dismissed because of the grievance he had raised against Mr Cockwill, noting that he retracted that allegation in cross-examination. It also rejected the case that he had simply been replaced, finding that the later post of Corporate Hospitality Fisheries Manager was not equivalent to his former role and that Mr Liddell genuinely believed the new role required a different skill set focused on corporate hospitality.

Applying s.98(4) ERA 1996 and the guidance in Gilham, Iceland Frozen Foods and Williams v Compair Maxam, the tribunal found that the Respondent acted reasonably in treating redundancy as sufficient reason to dismiss him. It took account of the consultation meetings in March 2024, the claimant's failure to suggest alternatives or seek redeployment, and the Respondent's view that the reconfigured business needed different skills. The unfair dismissal claim was therefore dismissed and no award was made.