Claimant v Abasto Limited — 2024

The respondent did not present a response and did not attend the hearing. It said the company was in liquidation, but had not identified a liquidator. The tribunal noted previous preliminary hearings and its own inquiries, and was satisfied from Companies House information that the respondent was not in compulsory liquidation, so it proceeded with the case.

On the evidence before it, including the claimant's evidence on oath, the tribunal found that he had not been paid his salary for November 2023 after the respondent's premises was suddenly locked shut on 4 December 2023. It also found that he had not been paid for 9.5 days of untaken holiday at the end of his employment. The tribunal therefore held that the claimant's complaint under section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, comprising unlawful deductions within section 13, was well-founded and succeeded.

The tribunal ordered payment of £1,335.36 net unpaid wages for November 2023 and £1,045.00 net holiday pay for 9.5 days untaken leave. It also ordered statutory redundancy pay. In calculating that sum, the tribunal recorded the claimant's date of birth as 20 September 1977, his employment from 9 September 2017 to 4 December 2023, his weekly pay as £385.61, and applied 6 completed years at the relevant rate to reach £3,470.76.