Ms M. Lewis v Caerphilly County Borough Council — 2022

The tribunal unanimously recorded that Ms Lewis's indirect age discrimination claim was dismissed upon withdrawal. On the contractual issues, it held that the respondent's letter of 21 August 2019 did not terminate the contract because it did not give the three months' notice required by the contract, the claimant had not affirmed any breach, and ACAS communications were inadmissible. The tribunal also found that correspondence in 2012 about entitlement to 33 days' annual leave created an implied term preventing the respondent from using notice to remove that entitlement.

It declared under ss 1 and 11 ERA 1996 that the claimant was contractually entitled to 33 days' annual leave and that the contract contained the implied term identified above. On the Working Time Regulations issues, the tribunal found that the claimant was refused five days' annual leave in 2020 and 2021 and that the respondent breached regs 13 and 13A WTR 1998 by denying part of her entitlement; it also found that each day of annual leave was to be treated as a composite amount distributed evenly between statutory and contractual holiday.

The claimant's detriment claim under s45A ERA 1996 failed. The tribunal accepted that the four detriments pleaded had occurred, but held that they were not post-termination detriments and were not suffered on the grounds alleged. For remedy, the tribunal recorded that the respondent was in breach of Regulation 30 WTR but there was no order for compensation in respect of that breach, and ordered the respondent to pay £2,152 pursuant to s38 Employment Act 2002. By consent, it also recorded that as at 1 January 2022 the claimant was entitled to 39 days' annual leave, made up of 33 days for 2022 plus six days carried over.