In person For the v Minories M Ltd (In Voluntary Liquidation) — 2023

The claimant, a general manager employed from 4 September 2019 to 31 December 2022 on a salary of £45,000, brought claims arising from his resignation while on sick leave. The respondent did not attend and the tribunal proceeded on the claimant's evidence and documents. The claimant had been on sick leave with stress and anxiety from 28 September 2022. He had raised a grievance on 7 October 2022 about his line manager, Peter Shakeshaft, and HR later indicated that Mr Shakeshaft would deal with the grievance. On 31 December 2022 the claimant was notified of disciplinary proceedings for alleged negligence and breach of confidentiality, suspended pending the hearing, and resigned the same day.

The tribunal upheld the constructive unfair dismissal claim. It applied s.95(1)(c) ERA 1996 and the Western Excavating v Sharp approach, asking whether there had been a repudiatory breach, whether the claimant resigned in response to it, and whether he did so without delay. It found a fundamental breach of the implied duty of trust and confidence in the way the respondent handled the grievance, namely by failing to allocate it to anyone other than the person complained of and then delaying resolution by starting disciplinary proceedings and suspending the claimant. The tribunal found the claimant resigned on 31 December 2022 in response to that breach and that the respondent had likely intended or at least been likely to seriously damage trust and confidence. It awarded a basic award of £1,142.00 based on two complete years' service.

The tribunal also upheld the holiday pay claim. It found that the claimant had 18.56 days' entitlement at dismissal and had not been paid for untaken holiday for the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 December 2022, including approved carry-over under the Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020. Relying on clause 9.5 of the contract, which provided for payment on termination for holidays untaken, the tribunal awarded £3,212.33 gross.

The claim for unpaid wages for October, November and December 2022 was dismissed. The claimant sought the difference between SSP and full salary during his sick leave, but he accepted that he had no contractual entitlement to full wages for that period and had been paid according to his contract. The personal injury claim was also dismissed because the tribunal said it had no jurisdiction to make such an award in the absence of discrimination or a protected disclosure detriment claim.