Nick Mackenzie v Joyners Plants Limited — 2023

The tribunal found that when Nick Mackenzie returned from Yeovil to Newton Abbot he returned to the same role he had left, on the same pay and within the same WhatsApp groups. It rejected his case that he had been demoted to retail assistant, and it also rejected his allegation that he was instructed to do spraying in unsafe conditions on 16 April 2022. The tribunal preferred Mr Windsor's evidence that he arrived late, that customers were already present, and that spraying could not safely be done at that point.

The tribunal accepted that the 19 April 2022 meeting was unsatisfactory, but found it was an investigatory meeting arising from the events of 16 April rather than a disciplinary hearing. It found that the respondent had cause to convene the meeting, that the outcome was to be communicated later, and that the claimant was not asked to continue the meeting in the car park as he alleged. Applying the implied term of mutual trust and confidence and the constructive dismissal authorities it cited, the tribunal held that the respondent had not acted in a way calculated or likely to destroy or seriously damage the employment relationship.

The constructive dismissal claim was therefore dismissed. The tribunal noted that, if it had needed to decide the remaining elements, it would have found that the claimant resigned in response to the alleged breaches, did not delay too long, and that the respondent would not have established a fair dismissal on these facts.

On the financial claims, the tribunal rejected the 13.5 hours unpaid wages claim because the respondent's time-recording system and payslips supported its case that the claimant had been paid in accordance with its timings. It also rejected the challenge to the £357 deduction for training fees, finding that the signed training agreement authorised deduction of the course fees and that the deduction was made in writing before it was taken. The holiday pay claim succeeded: the tribunal held that accrued but untaken leave at termination had to be paid under regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations 1998, that regular overtime could be included in the calculation, and that the claimant was entitled to 9 hours holiday pay amounting to £140.