Irene Maisie Dora Cleave v Roy Hurst T/A the Old Thatch Inn — 2021

The tribunal reconsidered its remedy decision on its own initiative under Rule 73 and, without a hearing, held that the claimant had been unfairly constructively dismissed by the respondent, Roy Hurst T/A the Old Thatch Inn. It kept the loss period for compensation at 10 November 2020 to 23 April 2021 and assessed the loss for that period at £7,533.78. It then deducted earnings of £2,805.59 but did not deduct Universal Credit, concluding that its earlier approach had not complied with the recoupment regulations and that the compensatory award should be £4,728.18.

The unfair dismissal remedy was therefore £6,364.70 in total, made up of a £972.10 basic award, a £4,728.18 compensatory award, a £364.42 ACAS uplift and £300 for loss of statutory rights. The judgment recorded a prescribed element of £4,728.18 for recoupment purposes and an excess of £1,636.52. The tribunal also noted that the reconsideration was determined without a hearing and that the respondent had agreed to that course.

Separately, the tribunal found that the respondent was in breach of contract by dismissing the claimant without notice and by failing to pay wages for the period identified in the reasons. It ordered £9,072.93 for the breach of contract claims, comprising £4,212.43 for notice pay and £4,860.50 for unpaid wages, both on a gross basis so that the claimant would be responsible for any tax liabilities on those sums.

The claimant also succeeded in her holiday pay claim under the Working Time Regulations 1998. The tribunal ordered payment of £2,139.54 net for accrued but unpaid holiday pay. The tribunal refused the claimant's application for costs relating to the postponed October 2021 hearing, and said any further costs application would need to be pursued through the tribunal office.