Mrs L Roff v Carosa Limited t/a Farleigh Coaches — 2020

Mrs Roff worked for Carosa Limited t/a Farleigh Coaches from 8 January 2018 to 14 January 2020 as an office assistant. The tribunal found that the principal reason for dismissal was misconduct based on the respondent's belief that she had taken unauthorised leave, but that belief was not on reasonable grounds and was not reached after a fair and reasonable investigation. The claimant had been told not to attend work on 31 December 2019 and 2 January 2020, had repeatedly asked for details of the allegations and time to prepare, and the respondent did not provide the information or allow a proper postponement. The procedure was found unreasonable, and the dismissal was held unfair under section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

On pay, the tribunal found that the claimant was told her pay was £9 per hour, but her payslips fluctuated between £250 and £315 for weeks with no explained difference in hours. It accepted that she worked 40 hours per week and was underpaid for weeks before 13 September 2019, when her pay rose to £360 per week at £9 per hour for 40 hours. The claim for unauthorised deductions from wages was found to be out of time, with no extension granted, but the underpayment still amounted to a successful breach of contract claim under the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction order.

On notice pay, the tribunal rejected the respondent's gross misconduct case and found that the claimant had not committed conduct serious enough to justify summary dismissal, so she was entitled to notice pay and succeeded in breach of contract. The holiday pay issue was not finally determined in this judgment; the tribunal said it would hear further submissions at the remedy hearing, including the effect of regulation 13 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and King v The Sash Window Workshop Ltd on carry-over of untaken leave. Remedy was therefore left to a further hearing.