Mr. G Kelly v Perle Hotels Ltd — 2023

The claimant, Mr G Kelly, was employed as a General Manager by Perle Hotels Ltd from 31 August 2019 to 30 August 2022. He alleged that the respondent had instructed him to work while on furlough, to breach HMO regulations, and to breach employment law relating to young workers, and that a meeting on 8 May 2022, later management discussions, and the handling of his grievance and disciplinary matters amounted to a repudiatory breach of contract. The tribunal did not accept that he had been instructed to breach furlough rules, HMO rules, or young worker law. It also found that the 8 May 2022 meeting with Mr Rehman was a business meeting about hotel standards and performance, and that Mr Rehman did not tell the claimant to resign.

The tribunal found that the claimant's contract allowed him to work at other hotels and that the requirement for him to work at the Oban hotel in July 2022 was reasonable in the circumstances. It accepted the respondent's evidence that the claimant had previously worked at other sites, that the Oban arrangement was to cover operational needs, and that travel expenses and accommodation were offered. The tribunal also found that, when he was taken off salary from 15 July 2022, the claimant was not ready, willing and able to work at Oban as required, so the salary stoppage did not amount to an unlawful deduction from wages.

On the constructive dismissal claim, the tribunal held that none of the 13 matters relied on by the claimant, whether taken individually or together, amounted to a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence. It also held that, even if some damage had been caused, it had not reached the level needed to amount to a repudiatory breach. In addition, the tribunal found that the claimant affirmed the contract after his 11 May 2022 resignation by giving notice to 30 September 2022, pursuing a grievance, appealing the grievance outcome, and engaging in the disciplinary process before resigning again with immediate effect on 30 August 2022.

The grievance had been investigated and was partially upheld, but the tribunal found no evidence that the grievance process had been thwarted. It also found that the later disciplinary allegations were genuine and based on reasonable grounds. The notice pay claim failed because there was no constructive dismissal and the claimant ultimately resigned immediately on 30 August 2022. The holiday pay claim failed because there was no contractual entitlement to carry holiday forward, no documentary evidence of an agreement to do so, and the claimant had already been paid for his 12.5 days' holiday entitlement for the period from 1 April 2022 to 30 August 2022.