Two competing tabloid headlines reporting on the tribunal decision in Bell v Carpenters : “Woman takes bosses to tribunal over being sent Christmas hamper” and “Oh not so jolly! Secret Santa is an HR minefield”. However, one immediate conclusion – an employee with a devout non-Christian belief taking considerable offence at a deliberately provocative seasonal gift – would have been wide of the mark.
Ms Bell, a legal training manager and qualified solicitor, presented a claim for constructive dismissal that involved numerous complaints about role changes, lack of support and review meetings, lack of pay rises, and the imposition of a time and motion study upon her. The company’s business, largely involving motor insurance claims, had been adversely affected by lockdown and had left the company needing to make savings and changes across the board.
The tribunal asked itself whether the company had behaved in a manner calculated or likely to destroy or seriously damage the mutual trust and confidence that all employment relationships require. Having assessed all of Ms Bell’s heads of claim via a 5 day hearing, it decided that there had been no such behaviour. There was no need to go on to consider whether there had been reasonable and proper cause for doing so; whether any breach was fundamental; whether she had delayed too long in resigning and had thereby affirmed her contract; and whether dismissal had still been fair.
But what about the Christmas hamper? How did this fit in?
The company’s defence was based in part upon Ms Bell’s difficult working relationship with her line manager and colleagues, and her disproportionate reactions and inappropriate behaviour within the workplace. One such illustration was the hamper. Ms Bell had been furloughed in 2020. The company provided Ms Bell and her team with hampers for a remote Christmas party. In what was described as “an unnecessary and graceless email exchange”, she claimed to have been unhappy to receive it and wanted to return it. She was told that she could donate it to a food bank instead. This advice did not feature within her list of constructive dismissal complaints.
One notable observation from the tribunal, against the background of the company’s attempts to recover from lockdown, was that “an employee is expected to absorb economic and structural changes or consider whether it is time to look for alternative work”. A far more effective and diplomatic observation than “the door’s over there if you don’t like it”.
Constructive dismissal can be a minefield, whether in making or defending a claim, or in building up or dismantling a potential case for one. Are you involved in anything of the kind? Get in touch. Contact David Cooper on 07450 350715 or via david@wolverhamptonemploymentlaw.co.uk .
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