Mrs A L Boyce v London Borough of Islington — 2024

The claimant alleged constructive unfair dismissal, relying on a breakdown in trust and confidence arising from alleged bullying, harassment, annual and special leave decisions, handling of sickness-related documents, and the respondent's alleged failure to treat complaints as grievances. The tribunal found that the claimant had not proved that she was bullied or harassed by Ann Curran, and did not find the annual leave or special leave matters to amount to breaches of the implied term.

The tribunal found that two matters, the letter dated 6 December 2022 and the stress risk questionnaire dated 5 January 2023, contained sufficient information that they should have been considered as possible informal grievances. It described Ana Sevilla's interpretation of what could constitute a grievance as narrow and restrictive, and found the failure to treat those documents as informal grievances unreasonable in all the circumstances.

However, the tribunal held that unreasonable conduct alone was not enough to establish constructive dismissal. It found that the respondent's conduct was not calculated or likely to destroy or seriously damage trust and confidence, noted that the claimant could have raised a formal grievance during employment, and concluded that there was no repudiatory breach. The constructive unfair dismissal claim was therefore not successful.