ERA 1996, s 95(1)(c):
\n\u2018\u2026the employee terminates the contract (with or without notice) in circumstances in which he is entitled to terminate it \u2026 by reason of the employer\u2019s conduct\u2019<\/p>\n
(i) Employer committed repudiatory breach
\nWestern Excavating Ltd v Sharp [1978] QB 761 (CA); Northwest Holst v Harrison<\/p>\n
[1985] ICR 668 (CA);<\/p>\n
Bournemouth University Higher Education Corp v Buckland [2011] QB 323 (CA), Sedley LJ:<\/p>\n
\u201828 It is nevertheless arguable, I would accept, that reasonableness is one of the tools in the employment tribunal\u2019s factual analysis kit for deciding whether there has been a fundamental breach. There are likely to be cases in which it is useful. But it cannot be a legal requirement. Take the simplest and commonest of fundamental breaches on an employer\u2019s part, a failure to pay wages. If the failure is due, as it not infrequently is, to a major customer defaulting on payment, not paying the staff\u2019s wages is arguably the most, indeed the only, reasonable response to the situation. But to hold that it is not a fundamental breach would drive a coach and four through the law of contract, of which this aspect of employment law is an integral part.\u2019
\nWoods v W M Car Services (Peterborough) Ltd [1982] ICR 693 (CA); Bournemouth University Higher Education Corp v Buckland [2011] QB 323 (CA); Gardner v Beresford [1978] IRLR 63 (EAT); Industrial Rubber v Gillon [1977] IRLR 389 (EAT);<\/p>\n
Waltons & Morse v Dorrington [1997] IRLR 488 (EAT); Weathersfield v Sargent
\n[1999] ICR 425 (CA).
\n(ii) Worker left because of that breach
\nWeathersfield v Sargent [1999] ICR 425 (CA)<\/p>\n
\u2018The Last Straw\u2019<\/p>\n
London Borough of Waltham Forest v Omilaju [2004] EWCA 1493, Dyson LJ (Leading judgment):<\/p>\n
\u20185. A relatively minor act may be sufficient to entitle the employee to resign and leave his employment if it is the last straw in a series of incidents. It is well put at para. [480] in Harvey on Industrial Relations and Employment Law:<\/p>\n
\u201c[480] Many of the constructive dismissal cases which arise from the undermining of trust and confidence will involve the employee leaving in response to a course of conduct carried on over a period of time. The particular incident which causes the employee to leave may in itself be insufficient to justify his taking that action, but when viewed against a background of such incidents it may be considered sufficient by the courts to warrant their treating the resignation as a constructive dismissal. It may be the<\/p>\n
\u2018last straw\u2019 which causes the employee to terminate a deteriorating<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ERA 1996, s 95(1)(c): \u2018\u2026the employee terminates the contract (with or without notice) in circumstances in which he is entitled to terminate it \u2026 by reason of the employer\u2019s conduct\u2019 (i) Employer committed repudiatory breach Western Excavating Ltd v Sharp Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94294\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}