Mr S PRESTON v Fortem Solutions Limited — 2019

Mr Preston brought a claim framed as unfair dismissal after resigning from Fortem Solutions Ltd. The tribunal found that his post-promotion role had been described loosely as Operations Director or Regional Operations Director, but there was no confusion about the substance of the role and no meaningful demotion when those titles were used interchangeably.

The tribunal accepted that Mr Preston had previously heard a rumour that he was leaving, had been asked to complete a 360-degree review, and had been affected by a race-day conversation about a trainee decision. At the meeting on 19 November 2018 he was told that Andrew Green was joining the Northern region as Regional Operations Director to support his action plan while Mark Gelder focused on Birmingham; Mr Preston would remain on existing contracts and his terms and conditions would not change. Mr Preston resigned on 19 November, confirmed his resignation in writing on 22 November, and left with immediate effect on 7 December after some of his work was handed to Andrew Green during notice.

Applying s.95 ERA 1996, Western Excavating and Malik, the tribunal held that the respondent had not, without reasonable and proper cause, acted in a way calculated or likely to destroy trust and confidence. It found that Mr Preston's belief that Andrew Green was replacing him was an honest but unreasonable assumption, not what the respondent had communicated. The claim was dismissed and no compensation was awarded.