Mrs Kathleen Greenidge v Economic Skips Limited — 2020

This case concerned a single unfair dismissal complaint by Mrs Kathleen Greenidge, whose employment with Economic Skips Limited ended after a meeting at McDonalds on 13 September 2017. The tribunal recorded that an earlier race discrimination complaint had been dropped, and that no constructive dismissal case was being pursued. The central dispute was whether Mrs Greenidge had resigned at the meeting, as the respondent said, or whether she remained employed and had been dismissed when a P45 was later issued.

The tribunal preferred Mr Farrell's account of the meeting and accepted that Mrs Greenidge said words to the effect of "I am not coming back to work". It found that she had previously said she was "done with Mr Meagher and with Economics", had been seeking a grievance/severance resolution, and had asked for redundancy at the meeting. In that context, and given the lack of any prompt correction until 19 September 2017, the tribunal concluded that she was communicating an intention not to return and that the respondent was entitled to treat this as a resignation.

On that basis, the tribunal held that there was no dismissal and dismissed the unfair dismissal claim. It noted the legal principles on resignation by words or conduct in Edwards v Surrey Police, Johnson v Monty Smith Garages Ltd, and Sothern v Franks Charlesly and Co. The tribunal also referred to section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and Polkey, but said the alternative fairness case did not need to be considered because there had been no dismissal in the first place.