Mrs M Turner v Mileta Sports Limited t/a TOG24 — 2019

Mrs Turner had worked for the respondent since 2 August 1996. The tribunal accepted her evidence that when she queried the contract at the start of employment, she was told by Joanne Ingham that the lunchbreak would be paid, and it found that representation became an express contractual term. It also held, in the alternative, that there was an implied term arising from custom and practice. The respondent’s later reliance on handbook wording and the 2018/2019 break-policy changes did not displace that term.

The tribunal found that the respondent decided to stop paying the claimant for her 30 minute lunchbreak from 1 February 2019. It noted that the grievance process was incomplete because Emma Woodcock did not hold a grievance meeting, contrary to the respondent’s procedure, and that the appeal investigation was based on limited and incomplete notes. On the evidence, the tribunal concluded that the respondent had imposed the change unilaterally and that, even if the payment was not contractually due, the manner in which the change was implemented breached the implied term of trust and confidence.

On that basis the claimant’s resignation on 8 March 2019 was treated as a constructive dismissal. The tribunal held that the constructive dismissal was unfair because the respondent did not argue any potentially fair reason for dismissal, and it was wrongful because the notice due on dismissal was less than the notice the claimant gave when resigning. The complaint of unauthorised deduction from wages also succeeded, because the respondent had stopped paying for lunchbreaks during the period from 1 February 2019 to termination.

The only monetary sum determined in the judgment was £115.96 for the unlawful deduction from wages complaint, payable forthwith. Remedy for the unfair and wrongful dismissal claims was left to a later remedy hearing.