Mr B Adamson v , Solicitor DPD Group UK Limited — 2022

The claimant started with the respondent in January 2017 and later became a National Trainer. The judgment records that he had also initially made a public interest disclosure claim, but that claim was later withdrawn and dismissed, leaving unfair constructive dismissal as the only live issue. The tribunal found that the claimant had a good relationship with his depot manager, Mr Lamont, and that he did not raise complaints through the respondent's grievance procedure despite being familiar with it from prior management experience and from dealing with grievances himself.

The claimant relied on a series of incidents said to amount to a repudiatory breach, including the April 2020 telephone call about furlough, the decision to meet in person rather than by webinar, the handling of Covid-related home working, the return-to-work discussion about face coverings, the Edinburgh depot high-vis issue, and the events of 15 January 2021 when he notified Mr Nelson that he intended to work from home because of ice and weather warnings. The tribunal preferred the evidence of the respondent's witnesses where there was conflict, found that the claimant often described ordinary managerial exchanges as aggressive or dismissive when the contemporaneous records did not support that account, and found that he had not raised formal grievances or written complaints about the matters he later relied on.

Applying Western Excavating (ECC) Ltd v Sharp and Malik v Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA, the tribunal held that none of the incidents amounted to a significant breach going to the root of the contract or a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence. It found that the respondent had been entitled to contact the claimant during furlough planning, that it was reasonable for Mr Andrew to want the follow-up meeting to be face to face, that the claimant had not asked to work from home before 15 January 2021, and that on that date he was in fact allowed to work from home after Mr Nelson confirmed the position. The tribunal concluded that there was no last straw, no repudiatory breach, and that the claimant simply resigned on 18 January 2021. The claim was dismissed.