Dr Nicholas v Three Nations Dispense Limited — 2021

The tribunal found that Three Nations Dispense Limited acquired the claimant's employment on 8 January 2019 under TUPE, but no consultation took place with the claimant or any employee representatives before the transfer. It held that the claimant was deprived of the information and consultation protections required by TUPE and awarded the full protective award of 13 weeks' pay, valued at £14,750.06. The tribunal rejected the respondent's attempt to treat the failure as mitigated by a mistaken belief about the effect of the sale agreement, finding that the agreement was there to be read and that the respondent chose to keep its options open.

On dismissal, the tribunal found that the claimant was unfairly dismissed. It accepted that the respondent was concentrating on the dispense side of the business and that the claimant was not seen as part of the reduced workforce, but held that the respondent acted unreasonably in dismissing him without consultation or any fair redundancy process. The tribunal did not accept that the sole or principal reason for dismissal was the transfer itself, but it held that the dismissal was nevertheless unfair under section 98(4) ERA 1996. It also rejected the respondent's case that the claimant's conduct justified any reduction to the basic award, finding that he had authority to do the work he did and had not knowingly participated in a false valuation of Vipzy.

The tribunal found the claimant was wrongfully dismissed because he was not himself in repudiatory breach of contract and the respondent was not entitled to terminate without notice. It made no separate financial award for wrongful dismissal because the notice pay element was already included in the unfair dismissal compensatory award. The compensatory award was calculated by reference to five weeks' net loss of earnings and three weeks' gross notice pay, and the basic award was fixed at £2,286.00. The holiday pay claim was dismissed because the tribunal found that the claimant had over-taken his 2018 leave entitlement and that excess offset any leave accrued between 1 January 2019 and dismissal.