CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT, UNFAIR DISMISSAL
The Employment Tribunal had dismissed the Claimant’s claim for constructive dismissal because it found that the Respondent had not acted in repudiatory breach of contract. The Claimant alleged that he had experienced a series of problems with his hours and pay and that when he was on sickness absence the Respondent paid the incorrect level of sick pay and failed to address his complaints. The Respondent initially rejected the Claimant’s grievance about his sick pay, but the decision was reversed on appeal. The conclusion of the appeal was that the Respondent would pay over pounds 6,000 in back pay by a specified date. It failed to make the payment by the promised date and the Claimant resigned claiming that this was ‘the last straw’ in a pattern of treatment of him. The Employment Tribunal found that the Respondent had redressed the Claimant’s pay dispute in the grievance appeal outcome and that the failure to pay by the promised date was simply a mistake. It held that the delay in payment was not a repudiatory breach itself; nor did it amount to a last straw in a history of events that together amounted to a repudiatory breach.
Held, allowing the appeal: The Employment Tribunal failed to direct itself as to the legal principles applicable to a ‘last straw’ constructive dismissal and failed to engage with the Claimant’s factual case on ‘last straw’. It regarded the history of payment problems and complaints simply as something that had been remedied by the grievance. The Tribunal failed to make findings on a number of complaints raised by the Claimant, and where it did make factual findings it failed to explain how the facts fitted into its very brief conclusion on the ‘last straw’ case. The claim of constructive unfair dismissal would be remitted to be reheard by a new Employment Tribunal.
Judges:
Gavin Mansfield QC, Deputy Judge of the High Court
Citations:
[2021] UKEAT 2020-001012
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 09 June 2022; Ref: scu.677776