Mr N Garside v Strategic Agenda UK Limited — 2023

The claimant brought a breach of contract claim for notice pay after his employment with Strategic Agenda UK Limited ended. The tribunal recorded that he started work on 9 February 2023 as a full stack developer under a contract requiring normal weekday hours and a hybrid pattern with at least three days a week in the office.

The tribunal found that the events of 15 March 2023 did not amount to a wilful refusal to obey an instruction. The claimant missed an initial meeting invitation, saw the reminder only when he logged on later that morning, apologised for missing it, and the tribunal accepted that there had been confusion over the timing of the emails. It also found that the allegation put forward in the disciplinary process was not framed in quite the same way as the later reasons given for dismissal.

The decisive conduct was the claimant's failure to attend work on 16 March 2023 after being instructed to come in the next day. The tribunal found there was no explanation for that absence and concluded that, in the circumstances, it was a wilful refusal to obey a proper instruction and a fundamental breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence. It rejected the argument that the respondent had waived the breach, finding that the disciplinary process moved forward promptly and that a brief discussion about alternative working arrangements at the end of the hearing did not amount to acceptance of the conduct.

On that basis, the tribunal held that the respondent was entitled to accept the breach and end the contract without notice pay. The claim for notice pay therefore failed.