Mr Alan Roberts (1) Mr Daniel Jones (2) v Open Door Adventure Limited — 2024

The tribunal heard the consolidated claims on 6 August 2024 without respondent witness evidence, because the sole director and shareholder, Mr David Orange, had died in April 2024. It found that the Respondent was an outdoor pursuit centre and that Miss Holmes-Langstone, the PA to managing director, lacked actual or ostensible authority to terminate employment or issue P45s. In Mr Roberts' case, the tribunal rejected the suggestion that his employment ended on 21 November 2022 or that he was made redundant. It found no consultation, no written dismissal and no basis for treating Mr Orange's later death as engaging section 136(5) ERA 1996, because the employer was the company rather than an individual employer.

Mr Roberts' redundancy payment, notice pay and loss of statutory rights claims were dismissed. The tribunal did accept that he had accrued untaken holiday between 1 April 2022 and November 2022, and that his November 2022 wages had not been paid in full. It accepted that he had received a £1,000 part-payment against net wages of £1,594.90, but the precise balance due was left to a remedy hearing. His holiday pay claim also succeeded in principle, but the number of untaken days had not been finally quantified.

For Mr Jones, the tribunal found that his work from May 2020 to May 2021 was an unofficial arrangement rather than employment under a contract. He lived in a caravan on site, carried out maintenance and other tasks as needed, and received small variable cash payments; on those facts, mutuality of obligations was not established under section 230 ERA 1996. By contrast, his contract from 1 May 2021 was formal and he was paid monthly. He therefore had not completed the two years' qualifying service needed for an unfair dismissal claim by October 2022, and the tribunal also found no formal dismissal for redundancy or notice pay purposes. His November 2022 wages claim and holiday pay claim succeeded in principle, but the amounts were left to be determined at a remedy hearing because the holiday-pay figure had not been set out in his schedule of loss and the £500 cheque issued towards wages was dishonoured.