An employee who walked out of work because of threatening and abusive behaviour by colleagues was protected by Employment Rights Act 1996 s100(1)(d). Therefore his dismissal was automatically unfair dismissal.
This section of the Act protects an employee against dismissal or other action if he leaves his workplace because of some danger which makes it unreasonable to expect him to stay. Although this section was intended to deal with accidents, such as spillages of noxious liquids, the Employment Appeal Tribunal found that it allowed an employee to escape from bullying.
Harvest Press Ltd v McCaffrey. EAT [1999]
[1999]