Can an employee’s disability impact a heat of the moment resignation? Yes it can!

Lauren Ogden, Associate

Heat of the moment resignations are often a tricky area for employers to navigate. Previous employment tribunal decisions have suggested that giving an employee a few days to cool off before accepting a resignation is a reasonable step for an employer to take.

However, in the recent case of Bradley v The Royal Mint Ltd the tribunal found that The Royal Mint had discriminated against Mrs Bradley by refusing to allow her to rescind her resignation after 10 days, without first considering the impact her disability had on her decision to resign.

A separate hearing to decide how much compensation should be awarded to Mrs Bradley has been ordered by the tribunal but it is reported that she is seeking £1.7 million.

Facts

Mrs Bradley was the HR Director for The Royal Mint with a salary of £123,000. She suffered from depression, anxiety and ADHD, all of which her employer had knowledge of and accepted to be disabilities.

Mrs Bradley had a history of resigning in the heat of the moment. Her employer had rejected two previous attempts to resign as they recognised she was unwell at the time.

On 15 June 2022, Mrs Bradley informed her manager in a meeting that she was resigning because she was going to pursue another career to earn more money. She was not visibly upset or displaying any emotions which might be caused by her disabilities. Mrs Bradley then confirmed her resignation in writing on 27 June 2022 and had been informing colleagues that she had resigned.

Mrs Bradley then asked to rescind her resignation on 6 July 2022. She informed her manager that she had stopped taking her medication but now she was back on it she was feeling better and wanted to stay. This request was refused. Mrs Bradley’s manager said it would be disruptive to the business to allow her to stay as the recruitment process for her replacement had started and it had been widely communicated within the Company that she was leaving and the reasons why.

Judgement

Mrs Bradley brought several claims against The Royal Mint which all centred around her argument that they refused to rescind her resignation because of her disability.

The claim that was successful was the section 15 Discrimination arising from Disability Claim. We have previously discussed this type of claim here (Section 15 Equality Act claims – what are they? | Kuits Solicitors).

The Tribunal found that Mrs Bradley had suffered unfavourable treatment arising from her disability by her employer refusing to allow her to withdraw her resignation.

The Tribunal then had to decide if this decision was a ‘proportionate means of achieving a legitimate’ aim for the company. It was accepted that the company had a legitimate aim in wanting to maintain stability within the senior executives as well as maintaining the operational integrity of the business. However, it was decided that the steps taken by company were not proportionate as more steps should have been taken to understand the impact her disabilities had on her decision to resign, including seeking medical advice before making the decision.

What can employers learn from this case?

Whilst this case is fact specific and most resignations will be clear and taken at face value, it does provide a useful reminder of some points an employer should consider before accepting a resignation:

1. If an employee resigns in the “heat of the moment”, allow the employee a cooling off period to withdraw their resignation. How long that cooling off period should be is fact specific and so employers should not have a blanket rule of a set number of days.
2. When accepting any resignation, consider the employee’s mental state and the surrounding situation before deciding how to proceed.
3. If the employee has a disability that could have impacted their decision to resign then further steps should be taken than just allowing a cooling off period. Employers should seek both medical and legal advice before deciding whether to accept the resignation.
4. Ensure that managers and HR professionals are fully aware of their obligations under the Equality Act 2010.