Mrs S Robinson v Drs Turpin and Lee t/a Park View Surgery — 2019

Mrs S Robinson worked as a healthcare assistant for Drs Turpin and Lee t/a Park View Surgery from 28 August 2015 until 2 April 2019. She alleged that she had been unfairly constructively dismissed. The tribunal recorded a series of disputes after Dr Jennifer Loke became director of the practice, including disagreement over blood results, a job advert for additional support in the practice, an appraisal, a request for a pay rise, and an incident said to involve Dr Loke touching or grabbing the claimant's right wrist.

The tribunal preferred the written resignation letter over the later email, which it treated as an attempt to clarify the earlier letter. It found that both the claimant and Dr Loke gave conflicting accounts, that neither was independently corroborated by oral evidence, and that the claimant had not discharged the burden of proving that she resigned because of the respondent's conduct in circumstances entitling her to leave without notice. Applying section 95(1)(c) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, it was not satisfied that the claimant had been dismissed in law.

As a result, the claim for unfair dismissal was dismissed and the associated notice pay claim also failed. The separate claim for 'other payment' in the claim form was dismissed because the claimant withdrew it.