Mr G Lever v The Co-Operative Group Ltd — 2019

The claimant resigned on 27 June 2018 and alleged that the respondent had fundamentally breached the implied term of trust and confidence through the restructure process, the conduct of his line manager Gil Harvey, the disciplinary process, the grievance and appeal handling, and the proposal that he continue working with Mr Harvey. The tribunal applied the constructive dismissal test and considered whether the matters individually or cumulatively amounted to a repudiatory breach.

The tribunal found that the respondent had reasonable and proper cause for its actions during the restructure and that the handling of the claimant's application for the Senior Asset Manager role did not seriously damage trust and confidence. It found that the complaint by Laurenne Chapman was not without foundation and that it was reasonable for Mr Harvey to investigate it. Although there were procedural errors in the disciplinary process and the grievance outcome letters did not follow the respondent's templates or address every allegation specifically, the tribunal found that those matters did not amount to a fundamental breach.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant found the disciplinary and grievance process stressful, but concluded that any procedural defects were remedied or were not sufficiently serious to destroy or seriously damage the employment relationship. It found that the claimant had already formed the view that he could no longer work with Mr Harvey and that mediation was a reasonable proposed resolution. The tribunal held that there was no fundamental breach of contract, whether the incidents were considered individually or cumulatively as a last straw, and dismissed the claim.