(1) E Feltin (2) C Nelson v Voombox Ltd and 4 others — 2023

At the hearing the parties agreed that both Claimants were employees and that Data Labs (Global) Ltd was the employer when their employment ended on 16 November 2021. The claims against the first four respondents were withdrawn and dismissed. The tribunal accepted the Claimants' case that the companies in the group, together with Pension Tax Refund Ltd, were associated employers within s.231 ERA 1996 and that continuity was preserved by the statutory presumption in s.210(5) ERA 1996. It therefore found that both Claimants had continuous employment since 2001 and rejected the Respondents' case that the 2013 demerger or share sale severed that continuity.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal held that the dismissals were by reason of redundancy within s.139(1) ERA 1996 because the Respondents were going out of business and the Claimants' roles would no longer exist. Applying s.98(4) ERA 1996 and the approach in Williams v Compair Maxam Ltd, it found that the Claimants had been consulted, that the Respondents were small businesses without HR resources, and that there was no viable redeployment alternative because all roles were ceasing and even Mr Blackburn was to remain only to manage the winding down. The unfair dismissal claims therefore failed.

For remedy, the tribunal used a weekly pay figure of £576.92. It calculated gross statutory redundancy entitlements of £14,711.46 for the First Claimant and £15,865.30 for the Second Claimant, then deducted the £5,000 already paid to each. The Fifth Respondent was ordered to pay outstanding redundancy payments of £9,711.46 and £10,865.30 respectively. It also held that each Claimant was entitled to 12 weeks' statutory notice pay, assessed at £7,500 each. The holiday pay claims failed because there was no evidence of any outstanding holiday entitlement.