Mr A Cannon v Re-Tek UK Ltd — 2022

Mr A Cannon had been employed by Re-Tek UK Ltd from 11 October 2011 as Warehouse Manager. The tribunal found that before the COVID-19 shutdown he was a highly performing employee who had received exceptional bonuses in 2018 and 2019, together with very positive appraisals, and that he had also been told on more than one occasion that he would receive a 5% shareholding. After the workplace closure in March 2020, the tribunal found that the relationship with Mr Culligan changed materially, with a reduction in day-to-day communication and a series of decisions taken without consulting the claimant on staffing, pay, bonuses, appraisal arrangements and management responsibility.

Applying the constructive dismissal authorities cited in the judgment, including Western Excavating, Malik, Lewis, Omilaju and Kaur, the tribunal held that the respondent’s conduct cumulatively breached the implied term of mutual trust and confidence. The tribunal identified a course of conduct that included the June 2020 staffing decisions, the reduction of pay from 37 hours to 35 hours without consultation, reduced and then withdrawn bonus payments, the introduction and retrospective application of a new appraisal system with low scores not properly explained, the withdrawal of the promised share award, and the removal of the claimant’s line-management responsibility. It found that the final straw was the email from Ms Hunter on 29 July 2021, which contained inaccurate matters and an unqualified refutation of the claimant’s complaints.

The tribunal held that the claimant resigned in response to that cumulative breach, that he had not affirmed the contract, and that the dismissal was therefore constructive. It rejected the respondent’s alternative arguments that any dismissal was fair for capability or some other substantial reason, holding that those contentions failed because the underlying breakdown in trust and confidence was caused by the respondent’s own conduct. For remedy, the parties agreed the basic award at £7,340. The tribunal awarded a compensatory award of £4,595.16, made up of £1,595.16 net loss of earnings for 12 months and £3,000 for loss of bonus, and declined to award compensation for the claimed shareholding because any such calculation would have been speculative.