Mr N Kenny v Stitch Design Limited — 2019

The claimant had worked for Stitch Design Limited from 2010 and, from about 2013, was employed as a full-time Warehouse Manager and director. In 2017 the respondent investigated complaints from staff, including allegations made by Zoe and Anne-Marie. The tribunal accepted that the complaints were genuine, not provoked or encouraged by BN or AM, and that two of them were serious enough to amount to gross misconduct under the handbook. It found that the claimant admitted the Zoe allegations, did not deny Anne-Marie's account, and that the final written warning issued on 15 July 2018 was justified.

The tribunal rejected the claimant's case that the 2017 disciplinary process was pursued in bad faith or that the final written warning was a pretext to remove him. It found that the respondent acted with reasonable and proper cause, that the claimant had been told of the allegations and given time to respond, and that there was no basis for treating those events as repudiatory conduct. It also noted that the claimant did not appeal the final written warning.

As to July 2018, the tribunal accepted that there was a golf-club meeting on 16 July and found that AM's remark about being able to understand why he might want to punch the claimant was not a serious threat of immediate violence. It also accepted that the conversation continued, that a management committee was agreed, and that the claimant and AM shook hands at the end of the meeting. On the later events of 25 and 26 July, the tribunal preferred the respondent's account, found that staff complaints had been made, and did not accept that the claimant had been forced to resign or that a suspension letter was withheld.

The tribunal held that the resignation letter of 27 July 2018 was inconsistent with the claimant's case, including his reference to others "clamouring for my dismissal". It concluded that there was no repudiatory conduct by the respondent and that the claimant's resignation was voluntary. The tribunal therefore found that he had not been dismissed and dismissed the unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal complaints. No remedy was awarded.