Marlena Anna Paszkowska v Stiltz Limited Heard by CVP (remote video link) — 2023

Marlena Anna Paszkowska worked for Stiltz Limited as an Export Key Account Manager from 10 March 2020 until her resignation on 3 March 2022. The tribunal found that, in the context of sales of the Trio+ lift into Italy, she raised concerns from late January 2022 onwards that the respondent was marketing a lift for wheelchair use when the Lift Instituut certificate and report still stated that the machine was not suitable for wheelchair use. The tribunal held that those concerns were disclosures of information tending to show a failure to comply with a legal obligation, that she reasonably believed them to be true, and that she reasonably believed they were made in the public interest.

The tribunal found that the respondent's reaction to those disclosures, particularly the exchanges with Miss Starzak on 2 and 3 February 2022 and the meeting and follow-up email from Mr Faulkner on 9 February 2022, was likely to destroy or seriously undermine trust and confidence. It held there was no reasonable and proper cause for that response. The tribunal found that the claimant was not reassured that she would not be required to mislead customers about product compliance, and that she was instead told the lift was fit for purpose and that the certification issue would be corrected later while sales should continue. On the tribunal's findings, the claimant resigned because of that breach of the implied term of trust and confidence.

The tribunal held that the claimant was constructively dismissed and that the principal reason for the dismissal was that she had made protected disclosures, so the dismissal was unfair. It rejected the respondent's case that the resignation was caused by other matters, and it did not find that the claimant had affirmed the contract by delaying resignation. It also rejected the submission that the claimant's later resignation from Platinum Stairlifts broke the chain of loss, finding that she left that post because she had become unable to continue in the circumstances following the dismissal.

On remedy, the tribunal accepted mitigation up to the period of work at Platinum Stairlifts and then through the later job search and employment at Handicare. It assessed net weekly loss by reference to the respondent's figures and awarded losses for 5 weeks at Platinum, 12 weeks until 8 August 2022, and a further period to 31 January 2023, together with £312 for loss of statutory rights. It declined to reduce the award for any alleged failure to comply with the ACAS Code, and it made no reduction for alternative causes or for any recoupment. The final award was £11,112.89, comprising a basic award of £1,360 and a compensatory award of £9,752.89.