The Claimant worked for a recruitment business called Hamilton Mayday as a Northern Regional Operations Manager from 2003. In 2023, the business went into administration and the Claimant transferred over to the Respondent.
In September 2023, the Director met the employees who had transferred over. One of the Claimant’s colleagues expressed concern about being overworked as there were only two people in the office. The Claimant was the third employee but often worked from home, which had been authorised by her manager. The Director stated in his witness statement that he left this short meeting with the impression that the Claimant “did very little work and left her two colleagues to do the work” and was “not happy.”
On 26 September 2023, the Director arrived at the office unannounced before the Claimant who had a medical appointment, and when she entered the office she said good morning three times but was ignored by the Director who said, in front of her colleagues, “I suggest you go into the meeting room”. The Claimant attempted to show him evidence of the appointment but he pushed it away. He suggested that she should leave the job if she didn’t want to work and the Claimant stated “After 20 years of working for the company, the only way I will be leaving is if you make me redundant”. The Director explained that this was far from a redundancy situation. There was work to do and they were there to grow. He simply wanted the Claimant to share the workload. The Director disputed this version of events, but his evidence was inconsistent and the tribunal preferred the Claimant’s clear evidence on this.
After this meeting the Director offered the two direct reports of the Claimant a pay rise and had not discussed this with the Claimant. This left her feeling humiliated. The Director stated in evidence that he felt like the Claimant was not invested and that he needed to act quickly but the tribunal concluded that he didn’t tell the Claimant because he didn’t want her there. The same day the Director wrote an email to the Claimant’s direct reports stating it was good to see her” getting stuck in today”, a comment the Claimant felt was inappropriate.
Before the Claimant learned she was to be transferred to the Respondent, she had been applying for jobs and was offered an interview. She turned this interview down upon learning of the transfer but then based on the actions of the Director, asked to do the interview and was offered the job. She gave her 8 weeks’ notice stating she felt undervalued. She mentioned the incidents above and that her work ethic had been questioned.
The Claimant requested that she be put on gardening leave for the duration of her notice period due to the anxiety the situation was causing her. It was agreed she would work at a client site and then commence gardening leave from 10 October. Upon saying her goodbyes on 10 October she discovered that the Director had rejected her request for gardening leave. It was agreed she should work from home, then the Director expressed his unhappiness at that so she was asked to come into the Scunthorpe office or work from the corporate hub in Wath upon Dearne. That was where the higher management and directors were based. This caused the Claimant anxiety and she was signed off sick for the duration of her notice period.
The tribunal concluded that this was a case of constructive dismissal and that the Respondent’s actions cumulatively amounted to a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence. Ignoring her when she came into the office was behaviour described as “calculated”. In relation to the other incidents the tribunal stated the Director had “clearly reached a snap judgment about the Claimant, as she rightly perceived, and had formed the view that she did not have a future with the company. His conduct reflected that. He did not intend to be bound by the employment relationship going forward and his conduct evinced that.”
The Claimant was also successful in her unfair deduction of wages claim that came from the employer not paying her contractual sick pay as they did not believe she was genuinely unwell.
There is an implied duty, in very general terms, to treat staff reasonably. If this duty is breached the employee can bring the relationship to an end, which is known as constructive dismissal. It is important for employers to note that even minor or seemingly petty incidents can cumulatively build up to a successful claim for an employee.
If you have any questions on any of the issues raised in the above article, please contact Alan Sutherland