Mr C. Pigott v Respondent — 2024

Mr Pigott was employed from 3 August 2020 on a salary of £40,000 plus commission, and much of his earnings came from the DWP contract. In June and July 2023 he was removed from that account after CDW told him the customer wanted all sales staff off the contract, and on 24 July 2023 the respondent confirmed a six-month ramp-off arrangement that tapered commission while he handed over to the services team and was given replacement accounts to prospect.

The tribunal rejected the constructive dismissal case. It found that removal from the DWP account was not a unilateral decision by CDW, that the claimant was not entitled to keep working on that account, and that the ramp-off was a concession intended to soften the loss of the account rather than a repudiatory breach. When the claimant later had to repeat part of the handover because Cheryl Gibson gave notice, the respondent increased the final two months of the ramp-off to 50%. The tribunal also held that the way the GSNI overpayment was being discussed over Christmas 2023 did not amount to a breach of trust and confidence, and it doubted that any alleged breach was the real reason for the resignation on 2 January 2024.

On wages, the tribunal held that commission was not paid pro rata to hours worked. The December 2023 commission statement of £13,352 was corrected to £3,300 after the GSNI clawback was applied, and the tribunal accepted the respondent's method of reducing current gross profit before calculating commission. That deduction was treated as reimbursement of an overpayment of wages within s.14 ERA 1996, so there was no unlawful deduction. Any January 2024 commission claim also failed because the outstanding GSNI balance would have extinguished it, and the separate £7,343.10 unrecognised sales item was not proved.