Mr C Cubitt v The Pollokshields Trust — 2023

Mr C Cubitt worked for The Pollokshields Trust as a community gardener under a contract starting on 1 June 2022. He was paid £12 per hour for 30 hours a week. The tribunal found that on 19/22 August 2022 he was told he was being made redundant, and that on 5 September 2022 he was told the respondent had learned he had written to a funder without prior authorisation and was suspended. On 7 September 2022 his employment was terminated with immediate effect for alleged gross misconduct.

At the final hearing the claimant confirmed that he was not pursuing unfair dismissal, redundancy pay, or holiday pay. Those claims were treated as withdrawn and dismissed under rule 52. The tribunal therefore focused on the wrongful dismissal claim and whether the respondent had been entitled to dismiss without notice on the basis that the claimant had committed a repudiatory breach of contract.

The tribunal found that the claimant had not been told that direct contact with funders required prior authorisation, that he had raised the matter with the project lead, and that the email sent to the funder was polite and friendly. It accepted the claimant’s evidence, noted that the respondent did not attend to give oral evidence, and concluded that there was no evidence of conduct serious enough to amount to gross misconduct or a repudiatory breach. The tribunal also said that the reasonableness of the respondent’s action was not the issue in a wrongful dismissal claim.

The tribunal held that the claimant should have remained employed until 28 October 2022 and had only been paid until 7 September 2022. It awarded £2,226.15 gross as damages for breach of contract for the unpaid contractual notice pay due on termination.