In person For the v Respondent — 2023

Mr Paul Bloom was employed as a Portfolio Director from 6 June 2022 until his dismissal on 9 August 2022, when he received payment in lieu of notice. He brought a claim for breach of contract / wrongful dismissal. The tribunal heard evidence from Mr Bloom and from the respondent’s witness, and it was referred to the employment documents together with Focsa Services (UK) Limited v Birkett and Johnson v Unisys Limited.

The tribunal found that the offer letter, summary terms and conditions, and contract formed a single agreement. Those documents provided for a six-month probationary period, during which both parties were required to give one week’s notice, and they also provided for a contractual right to pay in lieu of notice. The tribunal said there were no caveats, exclusions, or other documents altering that position, and it noted that the contract expressly treated disciplinary and grievance procedures as non-contractual.

The tribunal held that the Claimant’s case was, in substance, an attempt to run an unfair dismissal complaint. It recorded that he had less than two years’ continuous service, so an ordinary unfair dismissal claim was not available under s.108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, and the respondent did not have to justify dismissal in that situation. Referring to Johnson v Unisys Limited, the tribunal concluded that the common law claim it was asked to decide was not well founded. The claim was dismissed and no monetary award was made.