each in person For the v Rise 2 shine Ltd — 2024

Three claimants who cleaned supermarket refrigeration in the North of England for Rise 2 Shine Limited brought joined claims following events on or around 21 August 2023, when they were sent emails telling them they were 'stood down' and were then locked out of the respondent's Sage payslip system. The tribunal, sitting judge-alone with the respondent not in attendance and no explanation given, proceeded under Rule 47 having weighed the prejudice to the claimants of further delay against the prejudice to the respondent. The claimants' start dates were found to extend earlier than those on the ET1 forms because of repeated TUPE transfers from predecessor contractors.

The judge found that the stand-down emails, combined with the system lock-out and failure in communication, amounted to dismissals by the employer's conduct. The principal reason for dismissal was that the employer's need for employees to carry out cleaning work had diminished, but the respondent did not act reasonably in treating that reason as sufficient to dismiss in all the circumstances, including equity and the substantial merits of the case. The respondent also failed to pay holiday pay, wages and redundancy payments to which the claimants were entitled, and failed to give lawful notice.

Statutory redundancy payments, notice pay (mitigated by subsequent earnings), 4.2 weeks of accrued holiday pay, and arrears of pay for August 2023 were awarded to each claimant. A £500 compensatory award for loss of statutory rights was made in each case; no separate basic award was made as it was subsumed within the statutory redundancy payment. The recoupment regulations were noted as not applying.