Facts
In Abbycars, the employee was employed as a sales manager. He resigned after being signed off work due to sickness. His resignation letter claimed that Abbycars had fundamentally breached the term of mutual trust and confidence between employer and employee. The letter referred to a number of alleged breaches by the employer, including Abbycars’ decision to take back Mr Ford’s company car and remove his telephone allowance during his sickness absence. Mr Ford claimed constructive dismissal.
Employment tribunal’s decision
The employment tribunal concluded that only two of the various alleged breaches identified by Mr Ford amounted to repudiatory breaches and therefore only those two alleged breaches could potentially be relied upon in a finding of constructive dismissal.
EAT’s findings
On the facts, the EAT rejected the employment tribunal’s conclusion that two of the identified breaches amounted to repudiatory breaches and remitted the case to the employment tribunal to clarify this point. However, the EAT went on to confirm that if a repudiatory breach was established, the critical question for the tribunal to address was whether this breach played a part in the employee’s resignation. The EAT stated that if this is the case the breach can give rise to a constructive dismissal claim even if it was only one of a number of reasons for an employee’s resignation.
Comment
This case clarifies previous conflicting decisions and confirms that where an employer has committed a repudiatory breach of contract, it cannot avoid liability for constructive dismissal simply because an employee also relies upon other reasons when deciding to resign.
Abbycars (West Horndon) Ltd v Ford UKEAT/0472/07/DA