Mr Shah Ali v Nr Ltd — 2021

The central issue was whether Mr Shah Ali resigned in a telephone conversation with Mr Mohammed Azhil Hussain on 1 January 2021, as the Respondent said, or whether he was dismissed by the email of 19 February 2021 attaching a P45, as the Claimant said. The tribunal preferred the Respondent's evidence, including corroboration from Mr Dinar Ahmed and Mr Mohammed Meraj, and found that Mr Ali had in fact resigned. It also found that the resignation was unequivocal and that Mr Hussain properly allowed time for reflection before the position was confirmed.

Because the tribunal found that the employment ended by resignation and not by dismissal, the unfair dismissal claim failed. The tribunal also rejected any constructive dismissal analysis on the basis that the Claimant had denied resigning, so the case could not be treated as a resignation in response to a repudiatory breach. For the same reason, the claim for written reasons for dismissal failed, and the claim for a written statement of terms and conditions was dismissed as not being a free-standing right on the tribunal's findings.

The notice pay and breach of contract claim also failed. The tribunal found that the Claimant had given one month's notice on resignation and that he was paid for January 2021, so there was no outstanding notice entitlement. On holiday pay, however, the tribunal said the position was unclear but that the Claimant may well have had an outstanding entitlement to accrued annual leave, so it ordered both parties to file calculations of the outstanding holiday by 24 January 2022. No monetary figure for holiday pay was fixed in the judgment.