Mr S Khandelwal v Virgin Media Limited — 2022

The claimant complained of direct race discrimination and unfair constructive dismissal arising from the respondent's handling of concerns about 'cancel and resign' sales practices. The tribunal accepted that the claimant had allowed customers to use his device to cancel services so that new contracts could be entered, but found that his manager knew of, condoned and actively facilitated the practice, and that other sales advisers were also involved.

The tribunal found that the respondent breached the implied term of trust and confidence. It held that the 29 November 2019 meeting between the claimant and his manager, shortly before a scheduled meeting, was conducted without reasonable and proper cause and put the claimant under pressure to resign. The tribunal also said it would have found that aspects of the investigation and suspension lacked reasonable and proper cause. The claimant resigned at least in part because of the respondent's breach, so the unfair constructive dismissal claim succeeded.

The direct race discrimination claims were dismissed. The tribunal found that the claimant had not shown that he was treated less favourably because of race in relation to the individual meeting, the instruction about stopping 'cancel and resigns', suspension, the advice to resign, or the constructive dismissal allegation. It found other non-race reasons for the treatment, including the Manila data concerning the claimant's iPad and the manager's wish to minimise the risk of the claimant implicating others.