Being suspended without good reason can itself be a breach of your contract.
“Suspension found unlawful, a knee-jerk reaction; her separate disability discrimination claim failed.”
Suspension isn't a neutral, automatic step. Your employer needs a genuine and proportionate reason for it, and getting that wrong can itself amount to a breach of your contract.
- Ask why you've been suspended and what evidence supports it. A vague reference to "policy" or "usual practice" isn't enough on its own.
- Note whether you were asked for your side of the story before the suspension decision was made, and whether minutes were kept of that decision.
- If you're considering resigning over how a suspension or investigation was handled, get advice first, since whether it counts as a breach of your contract depends on the detail.
The situation
A care home team leader with almost two decades of service was told, with immediate effect and no consultationA process your employer is required to carry out before making significant decisions that affect you, most commonly redundancy. It must be genuine, meaning your employer must listen and consider what ..., that most of her administrative duties would be replaced with direct care work. Days later, her employer suspended her over a handful of minor, unverified concerns raised during an internal review, including Easter eggs bought for residents, a Wi-Fi installation, and a printer bought from her partner. No one asked for her explanation before the decision to suspend her was made. She resigned shortly afterwards.
What the tribunal found
The tribunal held the suspension was unlawful: a "knee-jerk reaction" rather than a genuine, individual assessment of risk, and one the employer's own disciplinary policy did not support. It found: "The suspension of the claimant was simply a knee-jerk reaction... The respondent simply did what it normally did." That, combined with the abrupt change to her role, was enough to amount to a breach of the implied termA term that forms part of your employment contract even though it is not written down. The duty of mutual trust and confidence is the most important implied term, but others include the duty to pay wa... of trust and confidence, entitling her to resign and claim constructive unfair dismissalA legal claim you can bring if your employer dismissed you without a fair reason or without following a fair process. You normally need two years of continuous employment to qualify, though some dismi... under section 95(1)(c)The part of the Employment Rights Act 1996 that lets you count as dismissed if you resign because of your employer's conduct. This is the legal basis for a constructive dismissal claim. of the Employment Rights Act 1996The primary piece of legislation setting out employees rights in the UK, including the right not to be unfairly dismissed, the right to a written statement of employment particulars, and rights relati.... Her separate disability discrimination claim failed. Nobody at the care home knew, at the time, that stress from the process could trigger her epileptic seizures.
Newey v Encompass Care Organisation UK. Case number 1401930/2024. Employment Tribunal. January 2026.