Facts
Mr Clements worked for Lloyd Bank. On 5 January 2012, Mr Shawcross raised concerns about Mr Clements’s performance. Mr Shawcross said to Mr Clements “you’re not 25 anymore”. Believing Mr Shawcross’s comments and performance review to be age discrimination, Mr Clements brought a grievance against Lloyd Bank. This was unsuccessful.
Mr Clements resigned on 12 July 2012 claiming that he was constructively dismissed. He brought claims in the Employment Tribunal for age discrimination and constructive dismissal. The Employment Tribunal held that Mr Clements had been constructively dismissed, and that the comments were age discriminatory, but held that the dismissal was not caused by the discriminatory act.
Mr Clements appealed to the EAT.
Decision
The EAT dismissed Mr Clements’s appeal and upheld the Employment Tribunal judgment.
The Employment Tribunal had found that discriminatory comments were not a cause of the dismissal, and so the dismissal was not tainted with discrimination. The EAT agreed with this.
The course of conduct causing Mr Clements to resign concerned the way in which Mr Shawcross had dealt with moving Mr Clements. Age discrimination was not a cause and the comments about Mr Clements being “not 25 anymore” had not tainted it.
The EAT also made a general comment. It said that, depending upon the facts, a Claimant who resigns in response to a course of conduct that amounts to a repudiatory breach of contract can be said to have resigned in response to some aspects of that conduct, but not other aspects of it. This applies even if those other aspects of conduct also amounted to a repudiatory breach.
The judgment is available here.
Clements v Lloyds Banking Plc & Ors (Age Discrimination) [2014] UKEAT 0474_13_3004 (30 April 2014)