Liam Tantrum v Stone Supplies (Wales) Ltd — 2021

Liam Tantrum was employed as an HGV driver by Stone Supplies (Wales) Limited from 4 March 2019 to 10 September 2020 under a written contract signed on 17 May 2019. The tribunal heard the case by CVP on 8 July 2021 in the respondent's absence after being satisfied that notice had been sent and that further attempts had been made to contact the respondent. The claimant accepted that the respondent was Stone Supplies (Wales) Limited and that he did not have two years' service, so the unfair dismissal complaint could not be entertained.

The tribunal found no evidence to support the respondent's allegation that the claimant was dismissed for gross misconduct involving damage to the vehicle, and it also rejected the respondent's counterclaim for £8,753.67. The counterclaim was treated as a breach of contract counterclaim and was dismissed. The tribunal accepted that the claimant was summarily terminated on 10 September 2020 without notice, found that he was entitled to one week's notice under the contract, and awarded wrongful dismissal/notice pay, but limited the award to two days' pay because he had asked for his employment to end on 15 September 2020.

On wages, the tribunal accepted the claimant's evidence and clocking cards that his working time began at 6:15am and found that he had not been paid for 15 minutes per day. It awarded £940.13 for 327 days at £11.50 per hour, and it also upheld an unlawful deduction of £850 from the final week's pay on 14 September 2020 because there was no evidential basis for that deduction. The holiday pay deduction claim failed because, although the tribunal accepted that the claimant often worked more than 40 hours, he did not prove the hours actually worked over the relevant 52-week period needed to recalculate holiday pay. The total gross award was £1,974.13.