An estate agent boss, who recently lost his claim of constructive dismissal, accused his former employer of running the company like a dictatorship.
Mr Elgey resigned from his job as Managing Director at Cumberland Estate Agents in Carlisle in 2016 after accusing parent company, Cumberland Building Society, of acting like North Korea’s dictatorship. He claimed that senior members of the parent company treated him in an aggressive manner during his employment.
Claim thrown out
The tribunal judge dismissed Mr Elgey’s claim. She ruled that the senior members of the team had behaved in a reasonable manner in accordance with their own job roles. Many of the issues raised during the tribunal could occur in any business environment, ruled the judge. Although the judge sympathised that Mr Elgey felt his performance review was distressing, she did not agree with his claim of constructive unfair dismissal. Significant evidence was brought against the claimant and tribunal also ruled that both managers had attempted to support the claimant throughout the process. However, Mr Elgey had declined most of this support.
The judge concluded that the claimant had brought the tribunal not to seek justice, but to damage the reputations of the company and other employees. The tribunal found that the claimant had provided exaggerated evidence which he knew to be untrue, in an attempt to swing the judge’s favour.
Breach of contract by claimant
The tribunal also discovered that other employees had reported seeing the claimant behaving aggressively during meetings. Furthermore, Mr Elgey had worked elsewhere while receiving sick pay from the company, which the judge noted was a clear breach of his contract of employment, and created a conflict of interest.
Mr Elgey’s claim for constructive unfair dismissal was unsuccessful.
