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Northern Ireland
Assamoi v Spirit Pub Company
Published on: 03/08/2012
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Background The appellant employee appealed against a decision of an Employment Tribunal that he had not been constructively dismissed by the respondent employer. The appellant had been employed as a head chef by the respondent. The appellant had been given approval for his holiday request by his manager. He was suspended pending an investigation into allegationsthat he had failed to attend work on a specified day and refused to attend a compulsory meeting. An investigatory meeting revealed that the appellant had been on authorised holidays in both instances on the date in question he was required to attend work and so no action was taken against him. The appellant claimed that his manager had undertaken malicious disciplinary actions against him. He attended the mandatory meeting on a later date and the respondent gave him an employment contract, which was mandatory for all employees to sign. The appellant was told that he must sign the contract or else he should request a transfer to another site or resign. The appellant complained that the employment contract decreased his hours of employment and he refused to sign it. He subsequently resigned. The tribunal held that the manager's acts could be deemed conduct that was likely to damage the relationship of trust and confidence. However, it also held that because the respondent held an investigatory meeting in which the appellant's account of events had been accepted, the manager's conduct could not establish a breach of trust and confidence entitling the appellant to resign and claim constructive dismissal. The tribunal asserted that the appellant did not truly resign on the basis of the manager's conduct and that the respondent has been within its rights to ask staff to sign the contracts of employment. The particular contract in question did not alter the primary aspects of the appellant‟s employment. The appellant argued that the implied term of trust and confidence had been breached by his manager's actions. He argued that this breach could not be remedied by holding the investigatory meeting. The appeal was dismissed. In the case of constructive dismissal, there is no requirement for the final action of an employer before the employee resigns to be a breach of contract. It must be determined whether the series of an employer's acts, when viewed in totality, result in a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence. There was a difference between a breach of contract which could not be remediated by an employer making an apology to the employee and the prevention of a breach of contract by an employer's action. The tribunal held that although the manager treated the appellant unfavourably, his behaviour could not have been deemed to have caused the appellant to resign. The subsequent investigatory meeting prevented the matter creating a situation which justified the appellant resigning and claiming constructive dismissal. http://bit.ly/IPokf

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Disclaimer The information in this article is provided as part of Legal Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article. This article is correct at 03/08/2012
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