Case 2206617/2020 · Employment Tribunal
Mr A Kairouz v Ambar Entertainment Limited Heard via Cloud Video Platform — 2021
- Case reference
- 2206617/2020
- Decision date
- 20 January 2021
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Davidson Representation
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Mr A Kairouz
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe tribunal accepted the claimant's evidence that he did not receive the respondent's dismissal letter dated 13 February 2020. It found that on 14 February 2020 he was told by WhatsApp that he was being investigated for cash discrepancies and asked not to attend the premises, which was consistent with his understanding that he had been suspended under a contractual provision allowing suspension on full salary while investigations were carried out.
Applying Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation v Haywood [2018] UKSC 22, the tribunal held that notice of termination is deemed received only when it comes to the employee's attention and he has actually read it or had a reasonable opportunity to do so. It noted that the dismissal letter was not before the tribunal, there was no first-hand evidence that it had been sent by guaranteed delivery, and the respondent could not satisfactorily explain the 14 February WhatsApp message suggesting suspension pending investigation if the claimant had already been dismissed.
The tribunal also rejected the suggestion that the claimant failed to follow up. It found that he did chase the matter by WhatsApp in March 2020 and received no reply, and that if he had already been dismissed the natural response would have been to tell him so and, if necessary, resend the dismissal letter by recorded delivery or email. On that evidence, it held that the claimant's employment was not validly terminated on 13 February 2020 and that the termination date should be taken as 20 July 2020, when he learned from HMRC that his employment had been recorded as ended.
The respondent was ordered to pay £6,620.64 gross in respect of pay from 13 February 2020 to 20 July 2020. The judgment records that the respondent later accepted the claimant was owed some money in relation to unpaid wages and payments due on termination and said it would pay outstanding pay, notice pay and holiday pay, but those sums were not separately awarded in the decision.
Claims and outcomes
1 finding recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unlawful deduction from wages | The tribunal found that the claimant's employment was not validly terminated on 13 February 2020, so he remained entitled to pay until 20 July 2020. The award was for gross pay only; the judgment does not separately quantify notice pay or holiday pay, which are mentioned only as matters the respondent later said it would pay. | Upheld | — | £6,621 |
Remedy
Monetary award- Total award
- £6,621
- across all upheld claims
Legal tests applied
1 reference- Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation v Haywood [2018] UKSC 22
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
- Open official judgment 1 PDF on gov.uk
- Open official judgment 2 PDF on gov.uk
- Open official judgment 3 PDF on gov.uk
- Open official judgment 4 PDF on gov.uk
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
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