Mr S Ayadi v Whitbread Group plc — 2026

The claimant, a former night team member at the respondent's Southwark hotel, resigned in June 2024 and brought a claim of constructive unfair dismissal, relying on a series of alleged breaches dating from 2021 to 2024. At a preliminary hearing on 10 March 2026, Employment Judge Mclaren considered the respondent's application under rule 38 to strike out the claim, either for no reasonable prospect of success or on grounds of the claimant's conduct.

The judge declined to strike out on conduct grounds, noting the respondent accepted that the claimant's conduct did not prevent a fair trial and that strike-out would be too Draconian in those circumstances. On the merits, the judge accepted that some of the alleged matters (including being paid holiday pay instead of statutory sick pay, refusal of an occupational health referral, and an unsafe environment) could in principle amount to repudiatory breaches. However, the judge concluded the claimant had no reasonable prospect of showing that pre-2024 breaches caused his resignation, as he had continued working and so affirmed them, and that he had delayed approximately two and a half months before reacting to the final alleged breach in 2024.

Applying Western Excavating (ECC) Ltd v Sharp, the judge further found that on the claimant's own account at the hearing he had only noticed the statutory sick pay issue when he went to resign, meaning it could not have been the reason for his resignation. The claim was therefore struck out on the merits ground.