Miss N Khatun v East End Medical Centre — 2023

Miss Khatun brought a constructive unfair dismissal claim against East End Medical Centre. A disability discrimination claim had been withdrawn at the start of the hearing after a prior deposit order, and the tribunal proceeded with the unfair dismissal claim alone before Employment Judge S Wilkinson.

The tribunal found that the claimant had not proved she was bullied by Mrs Shaikh or that the respondent failed to respond reasonably to her complaints. It accepted that there had been an incident on 24 May 2021, but found that Mrs Shaikh thereafter checked on the claimant’s health, the partners held meetings about the dispute, a grievance process was carried out, and support was offered when the claimant indicated she needed help with her workload. The payslip error was accepted as an innocent mistake, and the tribunal found that the claimant had not requested an Occupational Health referral.

Applying the constructive dismissal test in Western Excavating v Sharp, the tribunal held that none of the matters relied on by the claimant amounted to a repudiatory breach of the implied term of trust and confidence. It also found no evidential basis for attributing the claimant’s asthma flare-ups to the respondent’s conduct. Because no breach was proved, the questions of causation and affirmation did not arise, and the constructive unfair dismissal claim was dismissed.