Members: Mr K Thomson Mr V P Alexander Mrs Mary McLaughlin v Represented by: Mrs A Forsyth – Solicitor Nurseplus Limited — 2017

The tribunal accepted that the claimant joined the respondent as a registered general nurse in 2009 and later moved into a Clinical Care Supervisor role on the Family C package. It preferred the respondent's evidence that the operative job advert and the 12 June 2015 amendment letter were the relevant documents, and found that the arrangement was for a six-month amendment to be reviewed at the end of that period. Although the claimant's hours on the package later reduced from 24 to 8 per week, the tribunal found she continued to be paid at £20 per hour as a Clinical Care Supervisor and that the reduction reflected the package's decreasing need for clinical supervision.

On 12 November 2015 the claimant told Mrs MacDonald that staff were sleeping on nightshift; the respondent accepted that this was a protected disclosure. The tribunal found that the matter was raised at the same day's team meeting, that the respondent later investigated the allegations, and that some administrative duties were moved away from the claimant because they could be dealt with elsewhere or were no longer needed. It was not satisfied that the claimant was sidelined or that the reduction in hours, the involvement of Lesley Jackson, or the later instruction not to attend the package were caused by the disclosure rather than by the requirements of the care package and, later, the service user's mother's request that the claimant not return.

The tribunal held that the claimant resigned on 20 February 2016 but did not do so in response to a repudiatory breach, so the constructive dismissal case failed. It also rejected the case that any dismissal would have been automatically unfair because of the protected disclosure. As the claim failed, no remedy was awarded and the tribunal dismissed the claim.