Mr J Hands v Markham and Smith Motor Engineers Ltd. — 2022

The respondent did not contest liability for unfair dismissal, and the tribunal held that Mr J Hands was unfairly constructively dismissed when he resigned on 12 November 2021 after the incident on 10 November 2021 involving Mr Jason Tarling. The tribunal accepted that the assault was unprovoked, that Mr Tarling later pleaded guilty to assault on 24 March 2022, and that the incident caused Mr Hands mental health injury, including stress, anxiety, panic attacks and depression.

The tribunal did not accept that the claimant had proved physical injury sufficient to explain his claimed prolonged inability to work. It relied on the resignation letter, the immediate fit notes, the emergency department record, the lack of supporting GP detail until 27 May 2022, and the fact that Mr Hands was able to carry out some MOT testing work. It therefore limited immediate loss of earnings to 12 November 2021 to 30 April 2022, when it found he could and should have started looking for work again.

Remedy was assessed on that basis at £11,733.84 for 24 weeks' net wages, plus £500 for loss of statutory employment rights and £68.90 for incident-related expenses, giving £12,302.74 before uplift. The tribunal applied a 25% uplift because the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures had not been followed, and it did not make any Polkey or contributory fault deduction. It also rejected any future loss claim and declined to reduce the award for supposed state benefits.

The accrued holiday pay claim failed because the tribunal accepted the evidence that the final payment on or around 26 November 2021 already included 10.5 days' accrued holiday pay, with two further days paid ex gratia for Christmas 2021. The tribunal gave credit for £590.68, leading to a final amount payable of £16,963.75. It recorded that there was no separate breach of contract notice-pay claim, no costs application and no recoupment issue.