The Claimant was a plumbing and heating engineer who started work in June 2019. They brought forward claims for unfair dismissal, notice pay, no payslips, and discrimination.
Over time, it was argued that the Claimant had been difficult to work with. As a result, there were a series of minor incidents concerning disagreements and allegations of them being aggressive and confrontational. Because of this, other individuals, including the Contract Manager, stated they weren’t prepared to work with the Claimant.
The Respondent wrote to the Claimant and asked for their feedback as to how they should proceed. Unfortunately, the Claimant did not respond. It transpired that they were looking for alternative employment and found a new position shortly after that.
At the Tribunal, it was identified that the Claimant never resigned from their position with the Respondent. There was nothing to suggest that they had been dismissed from their employment.
The Tribunal held that when the Claimant started work with their new employer, they had “effectively resigned [their] employment with [the Respondent] without giving any notice”.
Therefore, the claim for unfair dismissal and notice pay fell away in the absence of a dismissal. The claim for payslips and discrimination also failed due to a lack of evidence.
While it’s beneficial for employers, this appears to be an unusual decision by the Tribunal. This case suggests that an employee who leaves without formalising the end of their contract and then obtains employment elsewhere “effectively resigns”.
The outcome suggests that an employee cannot have two concurrent employment contracts, which, of course, is not true. Employees may have multiple zero-hours contracts, for example.
Either way, this is one to watch and see. As this is only a judgment of the first instance, it will be interesting to see whether the Tribunal follows this judgment in the future or takes an alternative route.
