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Employers should be careful about how they behave after an employee resigns
Adrian Fryer
If an employee submits their resignation to their employer, then this is a clear indication that the employment relationship is coming to an end. For whatever reason, the employee is moving on. Unless the employee is resigning because of some historic poor behaviour or discrimination on the part of the employer, the risk of claims is low.
However, a recent Employment tribunal case serves as a reminder to employers that their behaviour following receipt of an employee’s resignation is important. Employers should be careful not to hand their employees an employment claim just as they are heading out of the door. In Manjula v immigration and Nationality Services Ltd and IANS solicitors, the Claimant qualified as a solicitor in India before re-qualifying in the UK. Her UK employer obtained a sponsor licence for her, extended her work visa and employed her as a newly qualified solicitor. However, she then resigned to go to work for KPMG. She discussed the resignation with her supervisor and agreed to keep working for another two months (to help with handover of work).
However, when the Claimant told the Respondent’s director about her resignation, he slammed his hands on the table and shouted at her. He accused her of breaching his trust (by leaving once he had paid to extend her visa) and said that he would make her pay for this. He said (in an email) he did not want her to continue to work, she should hand in her notice immediately and that it was her last day. The Claimant was not paid any notice pay.
The Claimant brought several tribunal claims, including for unfair dismissal, which the tribunal upheld. It said the Claimant had been summarily dismissed for misconduct (i.e. ‘breach of trust’), but this was unfair as the employer did not genuinely believe in her misconduct or follow a fair procedure. The real reason for dismissal was that the Respondent wanted to avoid her working (or needing to pay for) her notice period.