Mr M Lawless v Holden Law Limited (t/a Holden & Co LLP) — 2022

The claimant, Mr M Lawless, brought claims for wrongful dismissal, holiday pay and an unauthorised deduction from wages against Holden Law Limited (t/a Holden & Co LLP). The tribunal found that the written contract provided on 23 April 2021 contained a clause requiring not less than three months' notice during continuous employment, and it rejected the respondent's case that this was a mistake or that the claimant knew of any different notice term. It also found that the claimant had accepted the written contract by working under it and relying on it, despite not signing his own copy.

On termination, the tribunal found that the respondent told the claimant on 1 September 2021 that his services were no longer needed and that he would be on garden leave until 3 September 2021, and it treated the 31 August 2021 letter and later emails as confirming that the respondent had brought the employment to an end on 3 September 2021. The wrongful dismissal claim still failed because the tribunal accepted the respondent's later allegations of gross negligence and found that, taken together, they amounted to a breach of trust and confidence at the heart of the solicitor employment relationship. The tribunal relied on the respondent's evidence that complaints had not been passed on, legal aid had not been applied for in several matters, and fees or costs had been lost on a number of files, and concluded that those matters justified summary dismissal and defeated the notice pay claim.

The holiday pay claim failed after the tribunal found that 31.16 days of holiday had accrued across the 2020 and 2021 leave years, including carry-over agreed by the respondent at the turn of 2020 and 2021. It accepted the evidence that 27 days of holiday had been taken. Although that arithmetic left 4.16 days unpaid on a gross accrual basis, the final payslip showed £923.10 paid as holiday pay, equivalent to six days at the agreed daily rate of £153.85, so no holiday remained outstanding on termination.

The unlawful deduction claim succeeded in relation to the £73.53 parking permit deduction on the final wage slip. The tribunal found there was no contractual authority or written consent for the deduction, and that the respondent could not lawfully recoup the sum from wages already due. The respondent was ordered to pay the claimant £73.53 gross, with the claimant responsible for any tax or employee national insurance that may arise on that sum.