Mr P Conde v Mr F Sanjoori and 1 other — 2023

The claimant, Mr P Conde, was employed as a chef at the Château restaurant. The tribunal found that Mr F Sanjoori owned and operated the business through the trading name The Château Napoleon, and that the business declined during 2022, with the respondent exploring a sale before the restaurant closed in November 2022.

On redundancy pay, the tribunal found that the claimant was dismissed by reason of redundancy within s.139 ERA 1996 because the employer had ceased to carry on the business for which he was employed. It accepted the claimant’s schedule of loss and awarded redundancy pay of £12,436.20.

On notice pay, the tribunal found that the claimant was not given formal notice until 1 December 2022 and had not been paid the notice pay due on dismissal. Given his length of service, he was entitled to 12 weeks’ notice under s.86 ERA 1996, and the tribunal awarded £5,329.80 for breach of contract.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal held that the dismissal was unfair because the claimant had not been given adequate warning of the redundancy situation or consulted about it. However, it also found that the business was always going to close and that warning or consultation would have made no difference to the eventual outcome, so a 100% Polkey reduction was applied to compensation. The monetary awards recorded in the judgment were the redundancy payment and notice pay, totalling £17,766.00.