Mr K Nasser v Ozmen Limited t/a Ozmen Extra — 2019

Mr Nasser worked for Ozmen Limited t/a Ozmen Extra as a shelf stacker from 29 April 2016 to 4 October 2018. On 4 October 2018 he was asked by Miss Wheelhouse to sign a document relating to his cousin Hassan Nasser. The discussion became heated in Miss Wheelhouse's office and then outside it. The tribunal accepted that Mr Ozmen used the words "get out", but rejected the claimant's allegations of physical threats and found those allegations unfounded. CCTV was viewed, but it had no sound, so the tribunal relied mainly on the witness evidence and the documents.

Applying section 95(1)(a) Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal held that the claimant had not shown that the respondent terminated his contract. It found that the surrounding circumstances did not satisfy the statutory test for dismissal, that the claimant had not discharged the burden of proving dismissal, and that the later events pointed away from dismissal: Miss Wheelhouse invited him to return the next day, the respondent was still asking on 17 October 2018 whether he was coming back, and on 22 October 2018 the claimant said in email that 4 October 2018 was his last day because he had been threatened and did not feel safe.

Because the tribunal found that the claimant had resigned, the unfair dismissal claim was dismissed and the claim for no notice pay was also dismissed. The judgment records that claims for holiday pay and written reasons for dismissal were withdrawn during the proceedings. It also records that there was no order for costs in relation to the adjourned 5 June 2019 hearing.