In Person For the v Mr S Joshi, solicitor — 2019

The claimant brought claims of unfair dismissal and unlawful deduction of wages. The unlawful deduction claim was conceded by the respondent at the outset of the preliminary hearing, and by agreement the tribunal declared that £349.94 net had been unlawfully deducted from the claimant's wages and ordered repayment forthwith.

The remaining complaint was unfair dismissal. The claimant had worked for the respondent from 3 May 2012 to 28 September 2018 as an Assistant Accountant. The respondent said the dismissal was by reason of redundancy under section 139(1)(b) ERA 1996, and the tribunal accepted that there was a genuine redundancy situation arising from business pressures, including the loss of a major brewery contract, reductions in work, and a need to reduce costs in the accounts department.

The tribunal found that there was no longer a business requirement for two assistant roles reporting to the Company Accountant on a day-to-day basis, and that the new amalgamated role required attendance from 8am to 5pm for genuine business reasons. It rejected the claimant's case that she had applied for the bookkeeper role, finding that this was not supported by the contemporaneous documents and that the consultation notes indicated she was not interested in that role at the relevant time. The temporary administrative vacancy at the Aylesford depot was not a suitable alternative post.

The tribunal also found that the respondent had invited the claimant to three meetings between 10 August and 21 August 2018, provided minutes and letters after the meetings, and allowed an appeal which she did not pursue. Taking account of the redundancy exercise as a whole, including other redundancies across the business, the tribunal held that the decisions about selection and procedure fell within the band of reasonable responses and dismissed the unfair dismissal complaint.