Mr I Thomas v Chancellors Group of Estate Agents — 2021

This was a remote CVP hearing before Employment Judge Price on 4 March 2021. No previous case management hearing had been held, so the tribunal identified the issues at the start of the hearing. The claims identified were constructive dismissal and unlawful deduction from wages or breach of contract. The claimant's case was that his salary fell after he was moved from the High Wycombe office to the Amersham office in 2019 because of lower commission payments, and that this formed part of his constructive unfair dismissal case.

The main issue decided at this hearing was disclosure. The claimant said the bundle was incomplete and sought documents including profit and loss accounts for the High Wycombe and Amersham branches and activity reports relating to him. The respondent accepted that some additional documents should have been disclosed and later provided corrected versions, but also accepted that the documents already disclosed would not show what commission was owed. The tribunal held that cash mat reports and commission reports were highly material to the question whether the claimant's wages or earning potential had reduced and whether that amounted to a breach of contract.

Applying the overriding objective and proportionality, and noting that the claimant was unrepresented and did not have access to the records, the tribunal granted the application for further disclosure. Because the respondent said it would take weeks to reconcile its records and produce the required documents, the hearing was adjourned to a date to be fixed. No liability finding or remedy was determined in this judgment.