Mr L Lloyd v Cookstable Catering Limited — 2023

The respondent did not attend the hearing. After attempts to contact the respondent, the tribunal proceeded in its absence under rule 47 and relied substantially on the claimant's oral evidence. The tribunal accepted the claimant's evidence that he had continuous employment from 12 October 2010, following a TUPE transfer in 2021, rather than only from 2021.

On the wages claim, the tribunal found unlawful deductions from wages and awarded £4,332.47. There is an internal inconsistency in the judgment about the period covered: the operative order at paragraph 1 refers to January to May 2022, while the reasons and conclusions refer to January to May 2023. The amount awarded matches the later reasoning.

The tribunal found that the claimant's employment ended when the Famous Ship Inn closed on 3 May 2023 and that the reason for termination was redundancy within section 163 and section 139 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. On that basis, and using the claimant's age at dismissal, gross weekly wage of £538, and 12 years' service, it awarded a redundancy payment of £6,725.

The tribunal also found that the claimant was entitled to 12 weeks' statutory minimum notice and had not been paid it, so dismissal without notice was a breach of contract attracting damages of £6,456. Separately, it found that the claimant had 13 days of accrued untaken holiday at a daily rate of £74.50 and awarded £968.40 under Regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations 1998. The total monetary outcome was £18,481.87.