In Person v Mr. Bennison, Solicitor — 2021

Miss Cockayne claimed breach of contract in relation to the two months of her notice period during which she was paid furlough pay at 80% rather than full contractual salary. The tribunal recorded that she had signed a furlough agreement on 31 March 2020, under which she became a furloughed worker from 1 April 2020 on 80% of wages, and later gave three months' notice on 30 July 2020. Her contract required three months' notice, while the statutory minimum notice under section 86 ERA 1996 was one week.

Applying sections 86 to 88 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and relying on Scotts Company v Budd, the tribunal held that because the contractual notice period was at least one week longer than the statutory minimum, section 87(4) disapplied section 87(2) and section 88. On that basis, the amount properly payable during the notice period was £2,500 per month, so there was no shortfall and the breach of contract claim failed. The tribunal also rejected the submission that the furlough agreement or an analogy with garden leave required payment of full contractual salary for the notice period. The separate claim for one week's statutory notice was withdrawn by the claimant at the hearing and dismissed on that basis.