Dishon v Quattro Plant Ltd — 2019

The claimant was employed on a fixed-term contract from 14 May 2018 to 13 March 2019 at a salary of £85,000, with a contractual term stating that “upon completion of the contract” he would receive a £5,000 completion bonus. In January 2019 he asked about outstanding holiday, intending to leave early but saying he had not resigned; the respondent nevertheless treated the exchange as a resignation and set an end date of 31 January 2019.

The tribunal accepted the claimant’s evidence on the disputed conversation and found that he did not resign on 15 January 2019. It held that the respondent terminated the contract early, so the breach was the failure to give the full contractual notice period. Because the contract allowed early termination on notice, damages were limited to the notice period rather than the balance of the fixed term.

The claimant started alternative employment on 11 February 2019, so his loss was limited to 10 days’ pay at £232.88 per day, producing damages of £2,328.80 gross, subject to tax and national insurance deductions. The tribunal also found that his failure to lodge a grievance was reasonable in the circumstances, so there was no reduction under section 207A TULR(C)A 1992.

The completion bonus claim failed. Applying ordinary contract construction principles, the tribunal held that “completion of the contract” meant completion on 13 March 2019, and the contract’s early-termination provisions meant the parties had contemplated that the contract might end before that date. As the contract ended early, no termination bonus was payable.