Keywords: Unfair Dismissal; Resignation; Ambiguous Wording

The claimant worked for the respondent as a chef manager. He felt that he and his only other full-time colleague were overworked and formally requested extra kitchen assistance which was then provided. After two periods of sick-leave, he raised a number of formal grievances including discrimination, bonus payments and disparity in staffing levels between different sites.

After the grievance was rejected, the claimant phoned the respondent’s operations manager and the tribunal accepted the claimant became aggressive. The contentious issue arose out of a later voicemail in which the claimant allegedly resigned, although he contended that his words were ambiguous and did not amount to a resignation.

The relevant authority when dealing with such issues is Kwik-Fit (GB) Ltd -v- Lineham [1992] IRLR 156. This case holds that a failure by an employer to investigate facts which might give rise to ambiguity in a purported resignation might render invalid any action or reliance by the employer upon such an interpretation.

The tribunal in the present case held that the respondent reasonably concluded from the objective evidence that the claimant had in fact resigned and was under no duty to investigate further. The claim was dismissed.

Practical Lessons

It is interesting that the tribunal held that the respondent had not intended a ‘cooling off’ period to ‘let the dust settle’ since it had reasonably concluded that the claimant had resigned.

Other case law (Donna Millett v Charles Shinkwin ([2004] 15 ELR 319) tells us that employees may withdraw a notice of resignation within a reasonable time period. However, if the words used by the employee are deemed to be ‘ambiguous’ then it is likely that they will be construed in the employee’s favour.

Employers, therefore, should be cautious about immediately concluding that there has been a resignation. This may pose a problem for some employers when, as the tribunal candidly recognised in this decision, ‘few tears are likely to be shed’ by the prospect of a troublesome employee resigning.