In person For the v Mr Bansal (Solicitor) — 2020

The Claimant had worked for the Respondent as a Sales Manager since April 2012. He relied on three main episodes said to have undermined trust and confidence: a December 2017 Christmas meal incident, a March 2018 pub incident involving Sarah Goodman, and the events of 11 July 2018. The tribunal accepted that Mr Higginson made an inappropriate joking comment to the Claimant's fiancée in December 2017 and apologised, but it rejected the allegation that he pulled her hair and found that incident was not part of the Claimant's reason for resigning. On 29 March 2018, the tribunal found that Mr Higginson intervened in a conversation between the Claimant and Ms Goodman, said he was the Claimant's boss, and pushed the Claimant three times. The Claimant initially resigned after that incident, but then withdrew his resignation and affirmed the contract.

The tribunal held that the events of 11 July 2018 took place in a social setting after a barbecue and a suggested casino trip. It found that Mr Higginson and Graham Cort were joking and carrying the Claimant despite his protests, and that the situation changed when the Claimant grabbed Mr Cort by the throat. Mr Higginson then restrained the Claimant, the Claimant fell and chipped a tooth, and the tribunal found there were no punches or kicks and no deliberate injury. It also found that Mr Higginson's conduct that evening was not sufficiently connected to his employment to be attributed to the Respondent for constructive dismissal purposes.

After the Claimant texted on 12 July 2018 that he was resigning with immediate effect, the Respondent treated that as notice while also seeking clarification, arranging a meeting through HR, and later asking for the original sick note for payroll purposes. The Claimant then sent a resignation letter dated 20 July 2018 after taking advice from the CAB. The tribunal held there had been no repudiatory breach, either individually or cumulatively, and no failure of investigation or care after the incident. It therefore dismissed both the unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal claims. The tribunal noted that if repudiatory breach had been established, the dismissal would have been unfair and wrongful and the notice period would have been six weeks.