Mr Phillip Taylor v Steel City Classics — 2025

The Claimant, who had worked under Mr Hayes for 16 years (initially with Sheffield Motorcycle Centre Limited and then with the Respondent following a TUPE transfer in August 2024), resigned on 14 January 2025 and brought a claim of constructive unfair dismissal. He relied on three matters said to amount to fundamental breaches: a substantial change to his duties as General Manager after the TUPE transfer; inadequate working conditions in the Chesterfield premises (heating and toilet facilities); and the imposition of short-time working in January 2025.

The Employment Judge found that the Claimant's duties had not been changed in a way that breached contract, that the Respondent had not breached the implied term to provide a suitable working environment in relation to heating or toilets, and that the imposition of short-time working was within the Respondent's express contractual right under clause 8.5 of the written contract. The Judge accepted that there was a genuine downturn in work in December 2024/January 2025 and that the Respondent's opinion that short-time working was necessary was reasonable. Although the initial WhatsApp notice of 6 January 2025 was not on its own reasonable notice, the consultation meeting that followed provided adequate notice in context, and any shortfall would not in any event have been a sufficiently fundamental breach.

Applying the principles in Dawson and Craig v Bob Lindfield and Son Ltd, the Judge concluded there was no breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence and no behaviour by the Respondent that would convert the lawful engagement of clause 8.5 into a constructive dismissal. The complaint of constructive unfair dismissal was therefore not well founded and failed.