In a claim for unfair dismissal, the ET found that the employee had not been constructively dismissed. After a successful appeal, the case was remitted to the ET to consider whether the employer’s conduct amounted, individually or cumulatively, to a repudiatory breach of the implied term of trust and confidence. The ET again found that the employee had not been constructively dismissed. A further appeal was brought on the basis that the ET had erred in law in so finding.

The EAT dismissed the appeal. The ET had correctly applied an objective test when deciding whether the implied term of mutual trust and confidence had been breached. Its references to bad faith, deliberate manipulation and overt hostility were not, read in context, irrelevant considerations. Nor had the ET misdirected itself, when its decision was read as a whole. The ET had not failed to take into account relevant considerations. The question of whether an employer’s conduct justifies an employee terminating a contract of employment without notice is primarily one of fact for the ET, which has the benefit of hearing directly from witnesses, and the ET’s decision disclosed no error of law.