Mr B Sharratt v Royal Mail Group Limited — 2021

The claimant resigned after a disciplinary process following a rollaway incident involving a Royal Mail vehicle. He alleged that removal from driving duties, allocation to indoor duties, lack of support, colleagues' comments, confidentiality issues, the handling of the disciplinary process, and being told dismissal was being prepared amounted to a fundamental breach of contract entitling him to resign.

The tribunal found that the respondent had reasonable and proper cause to remove the claimant temporarily from driving duties and allocate indoor duties while investigating a rollaway incident. It found failings in the process, including errors in the report and allegation letter, failure to provide the serious incident report before the disciplinary hearing, and a remark by Mr Tysoe that "two wrongs don't make a right", but held that these matters did not individually or cumulatively amount to a fundamental breach of the implied term of trust and confidence.

The tribunal therefore held that the claimant had not established a dismissal and the unfair dismissal claim failed. It went on to state that, had a dismissal been established, the respondent would have had a potentially fair conduct reason, but the failure to investigate comparator cases and consider sanction properly would have made dismissal unfair; any award would nevertheless have been subject to significant reductions for the claimant's admitted role in the rollaway incident.