Mr Daniel Balding v Asda Stores Limited Heard by CVP — 2024

Mr Balding had been employed by Asda since 2006 and was appointed George Future Lead, Ecommerce in October 2021. In September 2022 the respondent told him his role was at risk of redundancy because the work had supposedly been transferred to a larger team and the post was said to be no longer required. The tribunal recorded a consultation process between 7 September and 19 October 2022, followed by dismissal with pay in lieu of notice on 19 October 2022.

On the unfair dismissal claim, the tribunal held that the respondent had not established that the dismissal was by reason of redundancy within section 139 ERA 1996. It found there was insufficient evidence that the employer's requirement for employees to do work of a particular kind had diminished or was expected to diminish, and it noted the absence of clear written material explaining how the role had been reorganised or redistributed. The tribunal accepted that the claimant had put forward detailed representations about the continuing need for his role, but those were not meaningfully answered.

The tribunal also found the consultation process fell outside the range of reasonable responses because the claimant was not given enough information to understand the case against him, and his points were glossed over rather than properly considered. It inferred, in the absence of evidence from Ms Ford, that the process was not genuine and that a decision had already been reached. It accepted that Miss Smith had tried to help with redeployment, but found that did not cure the defects in the redundancy process. The tribunal did not make any Polkey deduction.

On holiday pay, the tribunal applied the respondent's carry-over policy for 2019/2020 to 2021/2022 and accepted the claimant's evidence on the amount of leave actually taken in 2020/2021, 2021/2022 and 2022/2023. It found that 61 days were outstanding at termination, less 5 days already paid, leaving 56 days unpaid. Using the daily rate of £396.57, it awarded £22,207.64 and interest of £2,151.37 under section 24(2) ERA 1996.