Ambush – Flawed Investigation Resulted In Constructive Dismissal

Showing that an employer has acted procedurally fairly is often key to a successful defence of an unfair dismissal claim. Retirement Security Ltd v Wilson is an example of a case in which procedural defects in an investigatory meeting were sufficiently serious to amount to a breach of the implied duty of trust and confidence, entitling the employee to resign.

The employee was engaged as a manager of a retirement community in which older people lived independently. Managers who reported to her accused her of potentially serious misconduct and her manager invited her to an investigatory meeting. However, she was only given 24 hours' notice of the meeting, not given information about what the meeting was to discuss except a bullet point list containing allegations such as "attempted theft" and her (unrequested) "companion" subsequently took the role of Chair of the meeting. The employer itself described the meeting as an "ambush". After the meeting, the employee