Constructive dismissal

Case 7: The facts

At a review, Mr Hassan's manager raised a few performance issues and told him that a new manager would be appointed in his department to take over from her. The appointment was approved the next day, and Hassan was told that he would be involved in training his new manager.

Hassan raised a grievance, which was not dealt with in a satisfactory way. He resigned and claimed constructive dismissal.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal accepted that the employer had mishandled the procedure for appointing a new manager as well as the grievance procedure. This undermined the relationship of trust and confidence and amounted to a breach of contract.

However, for there to have been a constructive dismissal, Hassan must have resigned because of the breach. Hassan had resigned because he had not been offered the new managerial post, not as a result of the breakdown in trust and confidence, so there was no constructive dismissal.

Hassan v Intra-Tech Healthcare UKEAT/0050/04