Mr. M. O. Erinle v The Church of the Lord (Aladura) and 5 others — 2024

The claimant had worked for the First Respondent in a series of ministerial roles, and the tribunal focused on the dispute over the North London branch building fund and related events in 2020. It found that the branch had funds transferred from the CCLA account into a NatWest account, that the respondent later treated the claimant's conduct around those funds and the attempt to terminate a church licence as serious, and that on 27 February 2021 he was told to transfer to the respondent's international headquarters in Ogere, Nigeria by 15 March 2021.

The tribunal held that the instruction to relocate from the UK to Nigeria within two weeks was a fundamental breach of contract, but it rejected constructive dismissal because the claimant did not resign in response to that breach. It found instead that the respondent dismissed him, with the effective date of termination being 8 March 2021 when he refused to transfer. The respondent had a potentially fair reason for dismissal, namely conduct, and the tribunal accepted that the respondent held a genuine belief on reasonable grounds that misconduct had occurred.