Ms A J Hibberd v Woodstock Town Council — 2023

Ms A J Hibberd brought a constructive unfair dismissal claim against Woodstock Town Council. The tribunal identified the relevant issue as whether a course of conduct between 11 September and 8 October 2021 cumulatively breached the implied term of trust and confidence, applying the principles in Malik v BCCI, Mahmud v BCCI and the constructive dismissal authorities it cited, including Western Excavating, Buckland, Omilaju and Kaur.

The tribunal accepted that the new Town Clerk, Marzia Sellitti, was impolite on 11 September 2021 when she did not meet the claimant as expected, and that the 13 September 2021 meeting was also experienced by the claimant as rude. However, it found that by 14 September 2021 the claimant had been reassured that there was no intention to change her contract, pay or hours, and that it was not reasonable to infer performance management merely from the Town Clerk’s wish to observe her work. The tribunal also found that the claimant’s email of 14 September 2021 was an informal complaint rather than a formal grievance, so the respondent’s lack of a formal grievance response was not a breach.

The tribunal treated the 8 October 2021 email as the only substantive criticism of the claimant’s work, but found it referred only to one instance of inadequate cleaning of the town hall rather than a general criticism that her work was inadequate. It also noted that the email offered assistance and a meeting. The tribunal rejected the claimant’s evidence that she had been subject to constant criticism, implied threats to her role, repeated attempts to change her contract, or performance management. It also rejected the allegation that the Town Clerk had harassed her.

On that basis, the tribunal held that there was no course of conduct amounting to a repudiatory breach of contract or a breach of trust and confidence. It found that the Town Clerk’s conduct fell short of conduct going to the root of the contract, and that the claimant had not been constructively dismissed. The claim therefore failed and no remedy was awarded.