Dismissal held unfair
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• W Maher & Sons of Manchester has been ordered to pay 0,597 compensation for unfair dismissal to driver Frank Cunnion.
The Manchester-based company had denied dismissing Cunnion, saying that he had been laid off under the statutory provisions. A Manchester industrial tribunal heard that on October 1991 a customer went into receivership and the company had to reorganise its work. In November 1991 Cunnion was told that work was slack, so he was to keep himself available but was to sign on as unemployed.
Over the previous 18 months director Brandon Maher had arguments with Cunnion about the taking of breaks, the parking of his truck and the time he had taken to complete a manoeuvre in what Cunnion said was a dangerous situation.
In January Cunnion wrote to the company stating his intention to claim his redundancy and the company asked for his resignation in order to process his claim. On 24 February Cunnion wrote a letter of resignation saying he considered he had been "constructively dismissed".
For Maher it was argued that Cunnion had only been temporarily laid off. His employment had not been terminated and it had been Cunnion who had requested a redundancy payment.
The tribunal said Cunnion was the only driver laid off. His lorry was not sold, although three others were. The contract on which he had been working continued and it did not accept Maher's evidence that Cunnion had been chosen because his vehicle was off the road.
It was decided that the company had acted unreasonably in treating redundancy as a reason for dismissal.