Miss M Bonney v Diligent Care Services Ltd — 2024

The claimant, a former enhanced foster carer with the London Borough of Haringey, became a Project Manager for Diligent Care Services Ltd on 18 April 2016 when DCS was contracted to provide services at the home where she continued to live and care for X, Y and Z. Following an incident on 30 July 2017 involving X and the claimant's partner (also a DCS support worker), the respondent dismissed the claimant on 3 November 2017 on the basis that she had failed to report the incident, treating that as misconduct warranting dismissal. An internal appeal was unsuccessful.

On the ordinary unfair dismissal complaint, the Tribunal held it lacked jurisdiction: the claimant had not been an employee of Haringey within the meaning of the ERA 1996 before 18 April 2016, so she did not have the two years of continuous service required, and a TUPE-based continuity argument therefore failed. On the s.103A automatically unfair dismissal complaint, the Tribunal found that the dismissal was not by reason of any protected disclosure and that complaint was not well-founded.

The wrongful dismissal (breach of contract) complaint succeeded. The Tribunal found that the claimant had not in fact committed gross misconduct, so summary dismissal without notice was a breach of contract. Remedy for the breach of contract was listed to be determined at a further hearing on 22 October 2024.