Mr A Beaumont v Roberts Solicitors Ltd — 2022

By consent, the tribunal recorded that Roberts Solicitors Ltd breached Mr Beaumont's contract of employment by failing to pay his full contractual remuneration during his notice period. That paragraph was made by consent, while the remaining decisions were disputed.

On the merits, the tribunal held that Mr Beaumont was unfairly dismissed. It found that redundancy was the sole or principal reason for dismissal, but the respondent acted unreasonably in treating redundancy as a sufficient reason to dismiss him. The tribunal also said that any compensatory award for unfair dismissal would be reduced to reflect an 80% chance that he would have remained in employment and a 20% chance that he would have been fairly dismissed in any event on 4 July 2020.

The whistleblowing complaint was not finally determined because the tribunal did not decide whether it had jurisdiction under section 48 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It nevertheless stated that, if it had jurisdiction, it would have found a detriment in placing Mr Beaumont on furlough leave because he made a protected disclosure. The tribunal rejected the complaints that the respondent harassed Mr Beaumont or discriminated against him because of Mrs Beaumont's disability, and it found that the respondent failed to pay one week's accrued annual leave on termination of employment.