Mr S Spendley v Vanguard Site Services UK Ltd — 2019

Mr Spendley worked for Vanguard Site Services UK Ltd as a Recruitment Consultant from 25 October 2016 until he resigned on 8 February 2019. His contract required two weeks' notice. After a meeting with Mr Kenny about KPIs and a further disagreement over a fantasy football payment, he emailed Mr Smith and Mr Kenny saying, “Take this as a notice of my resignation. I will collect my belongings on Monday.” The tribunal found that the email did not expressly mention notice, but the claimant later made clear that he had two weeks left of employment and was willing to work that notice period.

The tribunal preferred the claimant's evidence on the relevant chronology. It found that the claimant left the office to attend a pre-arranged meeting, that the later car-park meeting with Mr Smith did not involve any discussion of notice, and that the handover of the company car keys and mobile phone was consistent with a resignation on notice rather than an immediate resignation. The tribunal also found that Mr Smith was very angry about the claimant's LinkedIn post and that this coloured the evidence he gave. It noted that the respondent had told the claimant not to attend work and had said the police would be called if he did, which the tribunal treated as consistent with the respondent's own understanding of the situation.

The tribunal concluded that the claimant was entitled to be paid for his notice period and that the respondent breached the contract by failing to pay notice pay. It ordered the respondent to pay the agreed sum of £1,000 as damages for breach of contract. The respondent's alternative argument that it could have fairly dismissed the claimant without notice was withdrawn at the start of the hearing.