Ms H Gahunia v Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council This has been a remote hearing, by cloud video platform (V): A hearing in person was not practicable because of the present restrictions due to Covid 19. — 2020

Ms H Gahunia worked for the respondent as a solicitor in its Legal Childcare Team. The tribunal accepted that she is a disabled person with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and hypothyroidism, that she had informed managers about those conditions, and that her absences from 23 September 2019 to the end of her employment were probably because of ME. It nevertheless dismissed the section 15 Equality Act 2010 complaint because it found she was not treated unfavourably: the tribunal held she was not prevented from taking leave during her notice period, and her belief that annual leave and sickness absence could not be combined was mistaken.

The tribunal upheld the holiday pay claim in relation to untaken leave on termination. It accepted the contractual distinction between statutory leave and contractual leave, found that only the statutory element was payable on leaving, and calculated her pro rata entitlement at 4.67 weeks or 172.79 hours. After taking 17 days, she had 15.54 hours untaken statutory leave, of which 14.73 hours had been paid, leaving a shortfall of 0.81 hours. Adding the 10% market supplement due on that untaken statutory leave produced an award of £51.07 gross.