In person For the v Respondent — 2018

The claimant, Mr Benjaminas Ramanauskas, said that after he assisted Mrs Jolanta Kostygoviene in meetings and correspondence connected with her disability-related issues, Amazon UK Services Ltd victimised him and pushed him to resign. The tribunal treated the main Equality Act complaint as a victimisation claim under section 27 and also considered the time limit point for incidents before 2 July 2018. It found that several early allegations were out of time, and that the claimant had not advanced a basis on which it should be just and equitable to extend time.

On the victimisation allegations, the tribunal found no sufficient evidence that the relevant decision-makers knew of the alleged protected acts at the material times in relation to many of the challenged steps, and it accepted the respondent's explanation that the claimant was already being managed through the performance process because of concerns about his own and his team's performance. It held that a number of the matters complained of were not detriments at all, or were not shown to be because of any protected act, including the invitations to PIP meetings, the grievance investigation and outcome, the appeal process, the later PIP stages, and the notes taken at meetings. The tribunal also accepted that some of the claimant's allegations were withdrawn during the hearing and treated as dismissed on withdrawal.

The tribunal also rejected the constructive dismissal claim. It held that the respondent's conduct did not amount to a repudiatory breach of contract, and that the implied term of trust and confidence had not been breached. In the tribunal's view, the performance management process and the grievance handling were justified by the claimant's performance and conduct issues, and the claimant's resignation was not shown to have been in response to any breach by the respondent. No monetary award was made.