in person For the v Appearance Not Entered — 2022

The respondent did not enter an appearance. The tribunal accepted that service had been properly effected at the respondent's registered office and found the claimant, a hairdresser employed from 18 May 2015, to be a credible witness. On 8 March 2022 Deborah Defoy called the claimant to a meeting without advance notice, without telling her it was disciplinary, and without allowing a companion. The claimant was summarily dismissed at that meeting for alleged gross misconduct, but the tribunal found no evidence of the allegations and adopted the claimant's account in the ET1 and witness statement as its findings of fact.

The tribunal held that the dismissal was unfair. Although gross misconduct was a potentially fair reason, the process was not fair: the meeting was an ambush, there had been no genuine belief on reasonable grounds following a proper investigation, and the decision to dismiss had been made before the meeting. The tribunal relied on the claimant's evidence that she had no opportunity to explain anything, and it found that she had not committed any act of gross misconduct. Because of those findings, there was no Polkey reduction and no reduction for contributory fault.

The tribunal also held that the dismissal was wrongful, so the claimant was entitled to eight weeks' notice pay. It found an unlawful deduction from wages because she was not paid for 8 March 2022, found that she had two days' untaken holiday at the date of dismissal, and awarded compensation for not being allowed a companion at the dismissal meeting. The schedule recorded a basic award of £1,280.00, wrongful dismissal damages of £2,575.60, a compensatory award of £2,294.00, and a total award of £6,149.60. The claimant had made efforts to find work and had no loss after 20 May 2022, and the Recoupment Regulations did not apply because she had not received recoupable state benefits.