Charlotte Tindale v Fushi Wellbeing Ltd — 2022

The tribunal struck out the unfair dismissal claim at the outset because the claimant started work on 12 January 2021 and did not have the two years' continuous service required to bring that claim. An application to amend the ET1 to add sex and disability discrimination claims was refused under Selkent principles because it was significantly out of time and would have caused prejudice and delay.

The remaining dispute concerned breach of contract, unpaid wages and holiday pay. The tribunal found that after the earlier dispute about homeworking and office attendance, the parties had in practice varied the working arrangement so that the claimant was expected to attend the office four days a week. It found that the instruction to attend the workplace in January 2022 was lawful and reasonable, including in light of the Covid Plan B guidance, and that the claimant was not ready and willing to work on the terms required because she was conditioning attendance on changes to the redundancy position and homeworking.

On termination, the tribunal found that the claimant's failure to attend the office from 13 January 2022 was a continuing breach, that the respondent did not repudiate the contract, and that the employment ended with or just before the claimant's solicitor's open letter of 4 February 2022, before her own resignation on 8 February 2022. The claim for damages for breach of contract was dismissed, and the claim for unpaid wages was dismissed because wages were not payable after 13 January. The tribunal also found the respondent was entitled to withhold the 4 February payment pending return of the laptop under the equipment agreement.

Holiday pay did accrue to termination, however, and the tribunal found that the claimant had accrued 1.8 days and had already been paid 0.8 days. It therefore awarded one further day's holiday pay at £192.31 gross. No other monetary award was made.