In person For the v Respondent — 2020

The claimant had worked for the respondent since March 2005 and had been promoted to Store Manager the following year. The tribunal found that the business, a small specialist shoe retailer, experienced a substantial downturn after the first Covid-19 lockdown, with online sales falling from £310,000 in the comparable period in 2019 to £78,000 between 23 March and 15 June 2020, and turnover from January to August 2020 falling to £567,814 from £1,060,534 the year before. After reopening, the junior assistants returned from furlough but the claimant remained furloughed, and Mr Merikhy concluded that he could absorb the claimant's managerial duties himself.

Applying s.139 ERA 1996 and the authorities in Safeway v Burrell and Murray v Foyle Meats, the tribunal held that there was a genuine redundancy situation because the requirement for an employee to carry out work of the claimant's kind, namely Store Manager duties, had ceased. It found that redundancy was the sole reason for dismissal. Although the claimant later suggested that age may have been a factor, the tribunal recorded that this was not part of the pleaded case and found no other reason or motive for the dismissal.

On fairness, the tribunal held that the consultation exercise was genuine and adequate, that the claimant was invited to suggest alternatives, and that she did not identify any alternative role. It also considered the point that the furlough scheme was extended before the notice period expired, referring to Stacey v Babcock Power Limited, but concluded that the underlying redundancy remained, that retaining the claimant would still have carried cost, and that the respondent acted within the range of reasonable responses. The tribunal further found that it was reasonable for Mr Merikhy to hear the appeal himself in a very small business and that he did so impartially. The unfair dismissal claim therefore failed, and the claimant's monetary claims in contract and for unauthorised deductions from wages also failed and were dismissed.