Mr C Burrows v The Cambridge Building Society — 2023

Mr Burrows was employed from 5 July 2021 as Head of Customer Strategy on a fixed-term contract with a six-month probationary period. The tribunal held that the contract allowed one week's notice during probation and three months' notice afterwards, and that the Respondent's letter of 17 December 2021 validly gave notice to terminate the employment on 28 January 2022. The oral conversation on 3 December 2021 was not sufficient notice, but the written letter was clear and specified the end date.

The tribunal then held that the probationary period ended on 4 January 2022, so when the Respondent emailed the dismissal letter on 5 January 2022 it was no longer entitled to rely on the one-week probationary notice provision. The 5 January dismissal itself was lawful under clause 16.1, which allowed payment in lieu of notice, but the amount of that payment had to reflect the remaining period to 28 January 2022 rather than just one week's pay. The Respondent therefore breached the contract by underpaying the PILON.

The tribunal rejected the Claimant's argument that clause 3.1 only permitted one week's notice where there were genuine performance or conduct concerns, and rejected the Respondent's argument that the probationary period continued until written confirmation under clause 3.3. It also rejected recovery of employer pension contributions and other benefits because clause 16.1 permitted a PILON of basic salary only. The ACAS uplift argument failed because the dismissal was not for conduct reasons. Damages were assessed at gross basic pay of £2,893.15 for 13 to 28 January 2022.