A lawyer who called a Citizens Advice policy that gives hard-working employees their birthdays off as “dubious” has lost her constructive unfair dismissal claim.
Sarah Guest brought a constructive unfair dismissal complaint to the Manchester employment tribunal, basing it on an alleged breach in the implied duty of trust and confidence.
On an internal forum, the director for operations announced that a “Good Citizen Award”, would be launched in July 2023.
Every month, employees could nominate their colleagues who are excellent collaborators. The leadership team would review the nominations and award winners an extra day of leave on their birthday.
Guest, who began working as a lawyer at Citizens Advice Manchester back in 2010, responded: “That seems a little dubious to my ears.”
Another employee wrote: “We’re all good citizens.” We all know it’s important to you that your achievements are recognised, so perhaps we should take our birthdays off.
Jo-Anne Sharkey, HR manager at a large company, responded by saying that she was disappointed with their negative reaction and could not understand how celebrating positive colleagues in the workplace was unwelcome or shady. She also said that the holiday entitlements were generous and people could still take their birthdays each year off.
Andy Brown, the chief executive of the company, posted on Facebook that it was unfortunate that some had responded with negativity. He said: “It is doubtful whether these negative people are aligned to the values and culture at CA.”
The court accepted that Guest found Brown’s post to be humiliating.
She spoke to her manager Dan Pye a few days later. She told Pye that she was upset with the post of Sharkey and Brown and felt unappreciated. Pye reassured her that she is valued. He told her that the staff had put in a lot of work on the Good Citizen Awards, and they could feel undercut by the inappropriate comments she made.
Pye did not criticize Brown’s posting. They discussed making a concerted effort to highlight Guest’s success stories and refraining from negative comments about others who are trying to promote a positive work culture.
Slater, the Employment Judge, accepted that Pye didn’t view Brown’s posting as demeaning to Guest or as a threat to his job security.
Guest accepted a position at Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton in October 2023. She had already started applying for jobs. She did not refer to Brown’s conduct when she resigned from her position in Manchester.
Guest admitted that her response to the tribunal was “disproportionate and inappropriate”. She claimed that the post was meant to humiliate and insult her.
She said she “couldn’t bear to continue working there” and cited other reasons for her resignation, because she didn’t want to “lose the face or admit that it had the effects it did”.
Andy Brown’s post was the deciding factor in the judge’s conclusion that the claimant had been constructively dismissed.
‘Dubious’
The judge said, “The claimant admitted that her statement was poorly-judged. I agree.” “To call the initiative ‘dubious,’ in a forum that was open to all employees, was an inappropriate way to raise any concerns she may have.”
The judgement concluded Brown had “reasonable cause” to respond within the same employee-wide discussion forum, supporting the initiative while regretting the negative reaction from the claimant.
The judge said that Brown had no reasonable or proper reason to comment. “What’s dubious is if those negative people really are aligned with CA’s values and culture”, he added. “I think this was beyond what is appropriate and proportionate for all employees to respond to these posts.”
This comment may have been hurtful, but not so seriously that it would breach the implied duty to mutual trust and confidentiality.
The judge said: “The complaint for constructive dismissal is dismissed because of this.”
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