Being suspended over a serious safety allegation isn’t automatically a breach of your contract.
“Court of Appeal: suspension over safety allegations had reasonable and proper causeReasonable and proper cause is the legal test courts use to decide whether an employer's action, like suspending you, was justified given what it knew at the time. Without a genuine, proper reason, so..., not a breach.”
Suspension isn't automatically unlawful just because it happens. Whether it breaches your contract comes down to whether your employer had reasonable and proper cause, on the specific facts of your situation.
- Ask your employer in writing for the specific reason you were suspended, and why suspension rather than another option was necessary.
- A serious, safety-related allegation is more likely to justify suspension than a minor or vague one. Weigh the seriousness of what's actually being alleged.
- Does your suspension feel disproportionate to the allegation? Were reasons never properly given? Get advice before deciding how to respond.
The situation
A teacher of five and six year olds was suspended in her first few weeks in the job. There had been three separate incidents where she used force to remove two children with behavioural issues from the classroom. She resigned that same day, arguing that the suspension breached her employer's duty to maintain trust and confidence. That was serious enough, she said, to let her treat herself as dismissed. An earlier court had agreed with her. Her employer appealed.
What the court found
The Court of Appeal disagreed. A suspension isn't automatically a breach of contractWhen one party to an employment contract fails to comply with one of its terms without a lawful reason. Your employer breaching a significant term of your contract can entitle you to resign and claim ... just because it happens. It isn't automatically lawful either. What matters is whether the employer had reasonable and proper cause to suspend, given what it knew and the situation it faced, an answer that shifts with the specific facts of each case.
Here, the court held the school was entitled to suspend the teacher pending investigation. The allegations involved the use of force against very young children, and the school had a real need to safeguard their welfare. The suspension didn't breach the implied duty of trust and confidence. The earlier ruling in the teacher's favour was overturned.
London Borough of Lambeth v Agoreyo. [2019] EWCA Civ 322. Court of Appeal. 5 March 2019.