Mr L Moreira v Abc Coach Limited — 2021

The tribunal found that Mr L Moreira resigned from ABC Coach Limited on 28 September 2020 and that the resignation was accepted on 29 September 2020. It rejected the case that he had been constructively dismissed, finding that the relationship had not broken down to the extent claimed and that he resigned voluntarily to take better-paid work. On that basis, the wrongful dismissal claim failed, and the tribunal also held that there was no continuity of employment into any later period for an ordinary unfair dismissal claim.

The tribunal found that the respondent later offered the claimant a fixed-term job for 11 to 17 October 2020, which he accepted on 30 September 2020 after arranging to delay his new job. The claimant was to be paid £750 for that work. On 5 October 2020 he emailed asking for his holiday pay to be paid in full and threatening legal action if it was not, and the tribunal accepted his evidence that Mr Bowe then telephoned him and told him he would not be paid. The tribunal found that this was a dismissal from the fixed-term contract.

The tribunal held that the dismissal was not because the claimant was asking for annual leave pay as such, but because he was asserting a statutory right not to suffer unauthorised deductions from wages. It found that the claimant believed in good faith that he was not responsible for the alleged coach damage and should not have deductions made from his wages, and that this was the principal reason for dismissal. The dismissal was therefore automatically unfair under s.104 ERA 1996. The tribunal awarded £750 compensation, being the sum he would have earned under the fixed-term contract, but made no basic award and rejected claimed future loss, job-search expenses, the claimed £1,440 loss from the postponed new job, and the claim for loss of statutory rights.

The holiday pay and unlawful deductions claims were not pursued because the sums had been repaid before the hearing, and those claims were dismissed on withdrawal. The judgment also set out the tribunal's reliance on s.98 ERA 1996, s.104 ERA 1996, Western Excavating v Sharp, Mennell v Newell and Wright (Transport Contractors) Ltd, s.212 ERA 1996, and Hussain v Acorn Independent College in reaching its conclusions.