Claimant v Citizens Advice Bureaux (Salford)

The tribunal found the claimant failed to establish facts from which a contravention could be inferred. Where alleged acts occurred, they were unconnected to age. The respondent needed the claimant's skillset, recruitment was difficult, most staff were over 55, and difficulties in the working relationship predated the claimant turning 65 in 2019.

Multiple allegations of harassment were examined. The tribunal found comments such as 'what if something happened to you' were not age-related but related to record-keeping. Other alleged comments were either not proven, not unwanted conduct, or did not have the proscribed effect of violating dignity or creating an intimidating environment.

The tribunal found most alleged detriments occurred before any protected act was done on 11 November 2021. Where detriments were alleged after that date, the tribunal found they were unconnected to protected acts. The dismissal was found to be due to irretrievable breakdown in trust and confidence, not because the claimant raised grievances about discrimination.

The tribunal found the reason for dismissal was some other substantial reason (SOSR), namely irretrievable breakdown of trust and confidence between claimant and respondent. Both parties had lost trust in each other over 2021-2022. The respondent had limited resources, no alternative roles or sites, and tried for over a year to remedy the relationship. The dismissal was fair and procedurally reasonable.

The holiday pay claim failed because the claimant agreed to bring forward her effective date of termination by accepting payment in lieu of notice, which affected her ability to accrue further holiday entitlement.

The claim for failure to provide written reasons for dismissal failed because the respondent did provide written reasons on 22 November 2022 explaining the dismissal was due to irretrievable breakdown of trust, which the tribunal found to be the true reason.