Mr F Wildman For the v Respondent — 2020

Employment Judge Siddall, sitting alone, found that the claimant, who had worked for Firefly Properties Limited from 1 March 2010 as Office Manager and later Sales Director, was constructively dismissed by the letter handed to her on 4 July 2019. The letter said her employment should end immediately unless she resigned, and the tribunal held that this amounted to a repudiatory breach accepted when she left and did not return. The dismissal was unfair because the respondent had not investigated the cash payment from H, had not given the claimant an opportunity to explain it, and had referred to unspecified additional concerns; the respondent therefore failed the Burchell test.

The tribunal found that later-discovered material showed the claimant had assisted H with his private sale, including instructing solicitors, arranging a mortgage valuation, and corresponding with the buyer, while H also owed the respondent money. Those matters were not in the respondent's mind when it dismissed her on 4 July 2019, so they did not affect liability, but they were relevant to compensation. Applying W Devis and Sons Ltd v Atkins, the tribunal held there was a 25% chance that a fair disciplinary process after 15 August 2019 could have led to dismissal, so the compensatory award was reduced by 25%.

The claimant was awarded a basic award of £4,446.72 and a compensatory award of £16,669.06, giving a total award of £21,115.78. The compensatory calculation started from net loss of £29,203.28 to the hearing date, added £500 for injury to feelings, and then deducted £7,477.87 for post-dismissal earnings before the 25% reduction. The separate wrongful dismissal claim for notice pay failed because the tribunal held that the later-discovered conduct may well have justified summary dismissal in any event, relying on Boston Deep Sea Fishing v Ansel. The application to add Firefly Homes Kent Limited as a second respondent was refused because the tribunal was not satisfied that a relevant TUPE transfer had been shown.