Implied terms - trust and confidence

Case 2: The facts

W, a part-time schoolteacher, resigned on the grounds that his employers had destroyed trust and confidence over the way it had dealt with complaints against him by female students.

W had not been given details of the allegations against him at the time, but had been told that they amounted to "gross misconduct and child abuse". Following a disciplinary hearing, the school concluded that W had been guilty of some inappropriate language and conduct, but it was clear this did not amount to child abuse. The school did not tell him which allegations had been upheld. A tribunal rejected his claim of constructive dismissal.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the tribunal had failed to address the issue correctly. It said that the school's failure to tell W what had and had not been proved against him, and the state of uncertainty this left him in, must have been "very damaging to his continued trust and confidence in the school".

The tribunal had not taken into account the effect of the school's letter, which had categorised the allegations as child abuse when they were not. The case was sent to a different tribunal for a re-hearing.

W v The Governing Body of Sir Roger Manwood's School UKEAT/0401/04