The claimant worked in the records department of the respondent Trust. She successfully applied for a position within the radiology department conditional upon satisfactory pre-employment checks. She furnished a letter to her manager stating “please accept one month’s notice from the above date.” The manager accepted this, outlining her last day of employment.
The claimant’s offer of employment within the radiology department was subsequently withdrawn owing to her absence record, thus she sought to retract her notice of resignation in her current role. The respondent, however, refused, and confirmed her employment would come to an end on the specified date:
“It is with regret that I cannot accept your request and as a result, your last day of work with us will be on Sunday, 10 July 2016. I also need to inform you that due to the number of days annual leave taken already this financial year, the Trust will be looking to recover 88 hours of pay from you.”
The claimant brought a claim for constructive unfair dismissal. The tribunal upheld her claim confirming she had been unfairly dismissed by the Trust. It found her letter had been ambiguous as to whether she was giving notice to leave the records department or to leave her employment. The tribunal concluded that the letter would lead the reasonable observer to agree that the claimant was not terminating her employment but notifying her manager of her intention to accept the offer.
On appeal, the EAT upheld the decision of the tribunal:
“…once it became apparent that the offer of a position in the Radiology Department had been withdrawn, and the claimant was seeking to withdraw her notice of departure from Records, the respondent’s position was that the claimant’s employment must come to an end.
“Given its findings of fact, however, I do not consider the [employment tribunal] erred in finding that this, in context, amounted to a dismissal and not simply the acceptance of a resignation.”
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