Mr A Renuka v Jayadev A M Technology Ltd — 2020

The claimant, Mr A Renuka Jayadev, was employed as COO of the respondent company from 1 April 2015 until mid-January 2020, when his employment ended by summary dismissal. The tribunal recorded that the relationship between the claimant and the two other founders/directors had become difficult over time and that, by 16 January 2020, trust and confidence had broken down. The claimant was not given a disciplinary warning, prior notice of the proposed dismissal, the right to be accompanied, or an appeal.

The complaint of unfair dismissal under ss94 and 103A ERA 1996 was withdrawn. The respondent accepted that the claimant succeeded on his ordinary unfair dismissal claim under ss94 and 98 ERA 1996. On remedy, the tribunal held that a fair process would have taken up to six months and that, although a Polkey reduction was justified, the respondents had not shown any basis for reducing the basic award or compensatory award for conduct/contribution, and no reduction was made on Devis v Atkins grounds. The tribunal found that the relationship breakdown would still have led the respondents to dismiss the claimant after a fair process.

The tribunal held that the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures applied because any internal process would have involved scrutiny of alleged misconduct or poor performance, and it awarded the maximum 25% uplift. It calculated loss of earnings by reference to the average earnings over the last six complete months of employment, disallowed a claimed loss of medical insurance benefit, and fixed loss of statutory rights at £100. The unfair dismissal award was therefore a basic award of £2,100 and a compensatory award of £43,452.50, while the unauthorized deductions claim was upheld by consent in the sum of £71,593.68, producing a total award of £117,146.18.