EAT Contract of Employment : Implied Term/Variation/Construction of Term – An operations manager in a small company was unhappy, for various matters which the Employment Tribunal thought were caused by the company. The proprietor called him to a meeting, at which he asked what the Claimant would take to go, and issued a veiled threat that if he did not agree to do so there might be disciplinary proceedings against him – for which, as the Employment Tribunal found, there would have been no reasonable and proper cause. An appeal on the basis that the Employment Judge had relied on the view/intention of the employer (which was to seek a parting of the ways) rather than anything the proprietor had actually done in the meeting, and had not analysed the facts by asking separately whether what had been done was likely seriously to damage or destroy the trust and confidence the employee had in the employer and whether there was reasonable and proper cause for it, was rejected on an holistic reading of the Written Reasons, as were grounds that the Employment Tribunal had taken into account matters it should not have done (it did not), had failed to say what its conclusion was on an issue in dispute (it did) and reached a Decision which was on one point perverse (withdrawn in argument). Appeal dismissed.
Langstaff P J
[2014] UKEAT 0186 – 14 – 0910
Bailii
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 23 December 2021; Ref: scu.539295