Mr Assamoi, a pub kitchen manager, was texted by his manager and summoned to attend a team meeting the following day, which was a day when Mr Assamoi had pre-booked holiday approved by his manager. The text was written in threatening tones. It said: all “must attend without failure. If you do not attend, it may end with disciplinary proceedings against you”. At a later investigatory meeting, when it became clear that Mr Assamoi missed the meeting because he was on pre-booked holiday, he was told no disciplinary action would be taken. Mr Assamoi lodged a grievance about the manager’s behaviour and his failure to apologise and resigned.

The EAT dismissed the claim for constructive dismissal, finding that even though the manager’s actions, texting Mr Assamoi and demanding he come to a meeting against a threat of disciplinary action were “likely to damage [the] relationship of trust and confidence”, the follow-up behaviour of managers in accepting his account, confirming that no formal action would be taken and offering to transfer him to another pub prevented a fundamental breach of the employment contract from taking place.

Assamoi v Spirit Pub Company (Services) Limited [2011] UKEAT/0050/20/3007