NO ATTENDANCE FOR THE v WFT Pub Company Ltd — 2020

Amber Verona worked for WFT Pub Company Limited as a chef from 21 August 2018 until 16 September 2019. Neither party attended the hearing. After the claimant said she was unable to attend because of ill health and wished the case to proceed, the tribunal determined the claims in both parties’ absence under Rule 21 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2013. On the material before it, the tribunal accepted on the balance of probabilities that the claimant was an employee, that she had not been paid holiday pay owed to her, that she was not permitted to work during her notice period but was not paid in lieu of notice, and that she had never been given written particulars of employment.

The tribunal held that the failure to pay accrued holiday pay and notice pay amounted to unlawful deductions from wages contrary to section 13 ERA 1996. It ordered the respondent to pay £1,224 for that claim, comprising £1,037 holiday pay and £187 notice pay. The tribunal also found a breach of section 1 ERA 1996 for failure to provide a written statement of particulars of employment.

For the written particulars claim, the tribunal applied section 38 of the Employment Act 2002 and awarded the equivalent of two weeks’ pay, calculated at £374 on the basis of a weekly wage of £187. It rejected the claimant’s request for a four-week award because the only evidence was the ET1 and there was insufficient evidence that it was just and equitable to increase the award. The total judgment sum was £1,598.