Mr D Mawdsley v Mentha and Halsall Shopfitters Ltd — 2021

Mr D Mawdsley was employed by Mentha and Halsall Shopfitters Ltd as a joiner and resigned on 13 January 2021 after the respondent issued him with a written warning arising from an altercation with Kevin Richards. The tribunal found that the claimant resigned because the warning was issued without a disciplinary hearing and without giving him an opportunity to respond to the investigation findings before the decision was taken.

The tribunal held that this amounted to a fundamental breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence. It found serious departures from the respondent’s own disciplinary procedure and the ACAS Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance: the claimant was not given advance notice of the specific allegations, was not provided with the witness statements or CCTV relied on, and was not given a proper chance to comment before the warning was issued. The tribunal also found that the respondent did not have reasonable or proper cause for proceeding in that way, and concluded that the claimant had been constructively dismissed. The respondent did not argue that any constructive dismissal was fair, so the unfair dismissal complaint was well-founded.

The separate section 38 Employment Act 2002 complaint failed. The tribunal was not satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the claimant had not been issued with a written statement of employment particulars, noting that the claimant accepted he might simply have forgotten receiving it and that the particulars appeared likely to have been issued around the same time as the employee handbook. Liability only was determined in this decision; the remedy hearing was listed for 18 October 2021.