Mrs Luisa Pringle v Dique Ltd (in voluntary liquidation) & Mr Richard Grills — 2021

Mrs Luisa Pringle was employed by Dique Ltd from 9 February 2015 as Head Baker/Bakery Manager, working 33 hours per week at £9.50 per hour. She was placed on furlough from March 2020, returned to work when the business reopened in mid-2020, and was later returned to furlough. Mr Richard Grills attempted to end her employment on several occasions. By late May 2021 he offered 6 weeks' pay in lieu of notice and later a zero-hours bar waiting/barista role. The tribunal accepted the claimant's evidence that this was not the job she had been employed to do. Her P45 showed an end date of 31 May 2021, which she only received on 21 June 2021.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal applied section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and considered redundancy under section 139. Because the respondent did not attend and gave no evidence explaining the dismissal, the tribunal did not accept that a potentially fair reason for dismissal had been shown. It also did not accept that the respondent had established a genuine redundancy situation or dealt with consultation and suitable alternative employment. The tribunal therefore found the dismissal unfair and dismissed the statutory redundancy payment complaint.

The tribunal dismissed the complaints against Mr Grills because the claims lay against the employer, not him personally. It then awarded a basic award of £1,881 and a compensatory award of £500 for unfair dismissal, with the compensatory element limited to loss of statutory rights. It also awarded £940 gross for unpaid wages for 1 to 21 June 2021, £1,121 gross for accrued but untaken annual leave, and £1,881 gross in damages for breach of contract in respect of 6 weeks' notice under section 86 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England & Wales) Order 1994.