IN PERSON FOR THE v Mr D Przybycien — 2021

At a remote hearing on 1 April 2021, Employment Judge Povey sitting alone heard the claimant's claims for redundancy pay, notice pay and holiday pay against her former employer. The claimant had transferred to the respondent's business in February 2019, having previously worked for the former owner since January 2016. The tribunal found that her employment continued for more than four years, that she worked 16 hours per week, and that her weekly pay was £131 and daily pay £65.60. The respondent said the business was no longer viable because of the pandemic and that sums owed could be claimed from government, but the tribunal found that he did not give effective notice at the early July 2020 meeting that her employment was ending.

The tribunal found that the claimant was dismissed on 17 July 2020 by reason of redundancy, and that she only learned the dismissal date when she received her P45 from the accountants. It accepted that no sums had in fact been paid. The claimant's employment rights, including holiday entitlement, continued during maternity leave by reason of Regulation 9 of the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999. On the evidence, she had accrued 6.2 days of holiday entitlement by dismissal.

The tribunal held that the claimant succeeded on all three claims. It calculated a statutory redundancy entitlement of £524, but ordered £558.08 because the respondent had accepted the accountants' letter of 20 August 2020, which referred to that higher redundancy figure. For notice pay, the tribunal applied section 86(1)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and held that the statutory four weeks' notice displaced the shorter contractual notice period, so the claimant was awarded £524. For holiday pay, the tribunal ordered £406.10 in lieu of 6.2 days untaken leave. The total award was £1,488.18.