Mr. M. Coombes v Wiley Fox Europe Limited (in liquidation) — 2020

On reconsideration under Rules 70 and 72 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2013, Judge Goodman accepted a narrow basis to revisit the earlier judgment. Mr Coombes had not attended the 31 January 2020 hearing and had not previously supplied pay information, but he then produced twelve months of payslips showing a gross monthly payment of £12,000. The judge also accepted that a tribunal letter dated 4 July 2019 may have left him falsely reassured that his schedule of loss had been received. In light of that, the protective award was recalculated using his actual weekly earnings rather than the capped insolvency figure used originally, and a substituted protective award of £35,506.84 was made in place of £6,287.14.

The tribunal refused reconsideration so far as the claimant wanted personal expenses and receipts added. It said he had not explained what the expenses were, how they were incurred, or whether they had been claimed in the liquidation and allowed or rejected by the liquidator. The judge noted that, if properly pursued, the matter might have required an out-of-time amendment and a further hearing, and observed that such expenses would not be reimbursable through the insolvency service under section 184 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The tribunal therefore held that reconsideration of that part of the judgment was not in the interests of justice.