Our team successfully defended a claim brought by an internal housing benefit assessor for constructive dismissal who had worked for the council for over 20 years. The claimant sought compensation in excess of £60,000 on the basis that she was over 60 years of age at the time of her resignation and would struggle to find new employment on comparable terms.
The claimant resigned following a very lengthy disciplinary process which took over a year to complete and had been delayed due to the the pandemic. We identified that there were significant risks that the claim could have potentially succeeded due to the procedural delays. However, we worked with our client to robustly defend the claim focusing on the stronger elements of the defence. Given the claimant was an ex-member of the HR team, we presented the council’s actions in the best light possible and focused carefully on defending/challenging each of the legal arguments at play. We also dealt with complicating factors such as supporting and managing a witness who had left the organisation. The claim was dismissed by the tribunal.