Ms S Lichfield v Fairlight Manor Ltd — 2020

Ms S Lichfield brought a claim for unfair dismissal and also had age discrimination ticked on the ET1. At the hearing on 14 September 2020, sitting alone before Employment Judge P Britton, she confirmed that there was in fact no age discrimination claim, so that claim was dismissed upon withdrawal. The Respondent did not enter a response and did not participate in the hearing.

The tribunal found that the claimant had been employed by Fairlight Manor Ltd as a care assistant from 6 March 2017 until her dismissal on 23 August 2019. Her gross pay was found to average £1,100 per month, which the tribunal converted to £253.85 per week. She was 21 at dismissal and had two complete years of service, so the tribunal awarded a basic award of £253.85 under section 119 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

For the compensatory award under section 123 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal found average take-home pay of £900 per month, equivalent to £207.69 net per week. It accepted that she was unemployed for 10 weeks after dismissal until 31 October 2019, when she obtained work in a bar/restaurant, and that she had actively sought work during that period. The loss for that period was £2,076.92.

The tribunal found that she remained in the bar/restaurant job until 4 April 2020, when she returned to work in the care sector, and that she suffered a continuing weekly loss of £57.69 during that period, amounting to £1,269.18 over 22 weeks. It also awarded £400 for loss of statutory rights. The judgment records a slight mathematical error in the oral reasoning, but the corrected final award was £3,999.95 in total.