Mrs S Pagan v Thicket Priory Limited — 2021

At the public preliminary hearing on 31 August 2021, Employment Judge Green dealt with the contractual notice and furlough holiday issues. The claimant's ordinary unfair dismissal claim was dismissed upon withdrawal. The judgment was limited to these points and did not record any monetary award.

Applying objective contractual interpretation, the tribunal held that clause 14.2 provided 4 weeks' notice during the first year of employment and added a further week only on each yearly anniversary. On the agreed commencement date of 1 November 2019, the claimant had less than two years' service when her employment ended, so she was contractually entitled to 4 weeks' notice, not 5. Although the termination letter was emailed and therefore ineffective under clause 16, the signed-for postal notice was treated as given on 2 March 2021, so the effective date of termination was 30 March 2021.

On the holiday issue, the tribunal applied regulation 15 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and the authorities on employer notice for leave. It held that the 26 March 2020 email was not a positive instruction to take leave, because it only explained holiday on a pro-rata furlough basis. The 20 April 2020 email was clearer: employees on furlough or full pay would have 2.5 days' holiday deducted each month, and that was sufficient notice for holiday accruing after 25 April 2020. No separate remedy was quantified in the judgment.