Employment Law: Unfair Dismissal – Constructive Dismissal – ‘Last Straw’
The case of Bell v The Spirit Group Ltd [2005] concerned a claim for unfair and constructive dismissal. The utilization tribunal held {that a} series of acts, by the employer, cumulatively amounted to repudiation of the employee’s contract of employment.
The employee was a manager of a national chain of pubs and restaurants. He brought a complaint of unfair constructive dismissal against his employer in the use tribunal on the grounds of failure to support him throughout a amount of a year throughout his career. He alleged that:
he had been harassed by the senior managers relating to changes to his and his wife’s single contracts to a lower-paid joint contract; he had been bullied and his grievance initially ignored; his grievance had been partially upheld however the bullying had continued; the employer’s conduct amounted to a fundamental breach of his contract of employment – the implied term of mutual trust and confidence (the reason for his resignation); his dismissal had been unfair in all the circumstances. The tribunal found that, in view of the cumulative effect of the course of conduct by the employer, there had been a basic breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence in the employee’s contract of employment, and it had been that breach that had been the effective reason behind the employee’s resignation. The employee’s claim of unfair constructive dismissal was upheld. The employer appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) against that decision. The employer’s appeal was dismissed.
The EAT found that:-
the check for constructive dismissal was whether the employer’s conduct amounted to a repudiatory breach of the worker’s contract of employment in relation to the implied term of mutual trust and confidence; a relatively minor act may be sufficient to entitle the worker to resign if it was the last straw in a very series of incidents; during this case, nothing had been done to stop the chain of causation; the worker had continually complained regarding the dearth of support, and the tribunal may not be criticised as a result of its conclusions. If you require any data contact us.
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© RT COOPERS, 2005. This Briefing Note will not give a comprehensive or complete statement of the law regarding the issues discussed nor does it represent legal advice. It is intended solely to focus on general issues. Specialist legal recommendation ought to continuously be sought in relation to particular circumstances.
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