Mrs S Soffe v Group Momentum (Salons) Ltd and 1 other — 2021

The claimant was employed by the first respondent as a receptionist from 20 October 2014. After furlough ended on 16 September 2020, the first respondent sent her a lay-off letter and later emails said the salons had been acquired and that employment and contracts would transfer under TUPE. The tribunal did not accept that account and found, on the balance of probabilities, that there had never been a transfer of the claimant's employment to the second respondent.

The tribunal found that the claimant remained employed by the first respondent and was dismissed by that respondent on 31 October 2020 when she received her P45. It held that the first respondent had provided no work or wages after furlough ended, had issued a P45 inconsistent with any TUPE transfer, had followed no dismissal procedure, and had given no potentially fair reason for dismissal. The unfair dismissal claim therefore succeeded against the first respondent, and the TUPE-based claim failed against the second respondent.

The tribunal also found that the claimant was entitled to unpaid wages and pension contributions for the period from 16 September 2020 to 31 October 2020, and to payment for 118.5 hours of accrued untaken holiday. It awarded £1,033.32 holiday pay, £1,255.37 unpaid wages, and £21.69 pension contributions. For unfair dismissal, it awarded a basic award of £1,255.68, compensatory losses totalling £9,157.60 before uplift, and a 25% ACAS uplift of £2,289.40. The total award was £15,013.06, and the tribunal stated that the Recoupment Regulations did not apply.