Mr F McBride v Greene King Retail Services Limited — 2025

The claimant, a project surveyor employed by the respondent from 3 May 2004 until 31 December 2024, brought claims of unfair dismissal and breach of contract. The respondent's position was that the claimant had resigned rather than been dismissed. The Tribunal found that the claimant's email of 10 July 2024 to his line manager, following a discussion the previous day, was a clear resignation formalising his intention to leave no later than 31 December 2024, and that this resignation was accepted by the respondent in writing on 11 July 2024 and 23 July 2024.

The Tribunal considered whether the claimant's later signature of new harmonised terms and conditions in September 2024 amounted to an express or implied agreement to revoke or vary the resignation. Applying Riordan v War Office [1958] 1 WLR 1046, Harris and Russell v Slingsby [1973] NIRC 454 and Butcher v Surrey County Council UKEAT/0022/19/LA, the Tribunal held that a resignation once given cannot be revoked or varied unilaterally. The new T&Cs were part of a workforce-wide harmonisation exercise, the claimant's continuity, salary and role were unchanged, and there was no conduct by the respondent capable of constituting a waiver of the resignation.

The Tribunal therefore concluded that the claimant's employment terminated by reason of his own resignation under s.95 ERA, so the unfair dismissal claim failed and was dismissed. The breach of contract claim, being contingent on a finding of dismissal without notice, also failed and was dismissed. No remedy was awarded.