IN PERSON FOR THE v Mr Overs (litigation Consultant) — 2025

The Claimant, a Customer Service Engineer employed by the Respondent since 1977, resigned with effect from 15 January 2025 and brought complaints of constructive unfair dismissal and unauthorised deductions from wages. The dispute centred on changes to how parts for his on-site engineering jobs were delivered, in particular the Respondent's decision in 2024 to terminate a leased storage facility (the 'Hub') and revert to delivering parts to the Claimant's home address. The Claimant withdrew the unauthorised deductions complaint during the hearing and it was dismissed under Rule 51 of the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024.

Employment Judge S Povey, sitting alone at Swansea on 22-23 September 2025, found that the arrangements for delivering parts were collateral to the Claimant's contractual duties rather than terms of the contract itself, and that the provision of the Hub was a temporary measure that was never incorporated into the contract by express agreement or as an implied term. Applying the test in Western Excavating (ECC) Ltd v Sharp and the two-stage Malik test for the implied term of mutual trust and confidence, the Judge concluded that the Respondent had reasonable and proper cause to remove the Hub and had not breached the contract, whether fundamentally or at all, individually or cumulatively.

As there was no repudiatory breach, the Claimant's resignation was a resignation in law and not a dismissal, so the constructive unfair dismissal complaint could not succeed and was dismissed. The questions of affirmation, waiver and whether the Claimant resigned in response to a breach therefore did not arise. No remedy was awarded.