Ms. S McNuff v The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman — 2022

Ms S McNuff was employed by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman from 17 November 2017, initially as Interim Resourcing Manager. The tribunal found that her role later changed into HR Shared Service Manager without an updated job description reflecting her duties, and that the HR team was working under excessive workload, limited support, and continuing organisational change. It accepted that the claimant and colleagues had raised these concerns through Freedom to Speak Up complaints in October 2020 and May 2021, and found those complaints to be credible and based in fact.

The tribunal found that the management problems extended from David McKnight's period as manager into Jeanette Woodward's management. It found that the respondent had not taken meaningful steps to address the workload and support issues, that there was little reliable record keeping of discussions or meetings, and that the claimant had also raised these matters in her grievance dated 21 May 2021. The tribunal accepted that staff were overworked, that support was lacking over a sustained period, and that the claimant and colleagues had been told words to the effect of 'if you don't like it leave'.

The tribunal held that the final straw was Ms Woodward's response in the telephone call on 26 May 2021, which gave the claimant no confidence that the situation would improve when she returned from sick leave. Applying the constructive dismissal analysis under Kaur and Omilaju, the tribunal concluded that the respondent's conduct, taken cumulatively, amounted to a repudiatory breach of the implied term of trust and confidence and that the claimant resigned in response to that breach. It found that there was no potentially fair reason for dismissal and therefore upheld the unfair dismissal complaint. Remedy was left open; the tribunal directed updated schedules of loss and listed the matter for a separate remedy hearing.