Claimant v Z NHS Foundation Trust — 2018

The claimant, a paramedic employed from 2003, resigned on 16 October 2017 after disciplinary proceedings arising from allegations of inappropriate conduct towards two 15-year-old boys and a parallel police investigation. At the final hearing the only live merits issue was whether he had been constructively dismissed. The notice pay claim had already been dismissed upon withdrawal, and the holiday pay complaint had been resolved by consent for £4,335.40.

Applying the constructive dismissal framework under section 95(1)(c) ERA 1996 and the implied term of mutual trust and confidence, the tribunal rejected each alleged breach. It found no evidence that AP pressured the claimant to stay at work against medical advice, and the occupational health evidence recorded that he was fit for work with adjustments and very keen to remain at work. The tribunal also rejected the allegation that CB and DB pressured him to continue working, and found no credible basis for the claim that the Respondent acted with bias or failed to take his account into consideration during the investigation.

The tribunal found SA conducted a fair, reasonable and proportionate investigation, pausing it when the police asked him to do so and resuming only when permitted. It rejected allegations that the investigation was rushed to beat the police process, that confidential information was improperly disclosed, that the report was manipulated, or that AP told the claimant he would be dismissed or should resign on the dates alleged. The tribunal also rejected the claim that the report asserted future sexual abuse as fact; it found no such passage in the report.

Because no repudiatory breach was established, the constructive dismissal complaint failed and the tribunal did not need to decide whether the claimant resigned in response to any breach or delayed so as to affirm the contract. The judgment records that the Respondent had provided welfare support during the claimant’s suspension, including occupational health input and contact from AP and DB, but that did not alter the outcome on liability.