Miss J Dash v Athena Healthcare Group Ltd — 2020

The respondent did not present a response, although it wrote to the tribunal confirming service of the claim. The claimant had worked for the respondent and its subsidiary companies, including Athena Care (Ormskirk) Ltd trading as Abbey Wood Lodge, in various roles across the group. On 19 August 2019 she was made redundant from a new administrator role she was due to start that day, instead of her earlier Training and Compliance roles.

The tribunal found there had been no proper warning or consultation about redundancy and no sufficient consideration of suitable alternative employment. It held that the claimant was unfairly dismissed by reason of redundancy. The tribunal awarded a basic award of £1,246.50, calculated by reference to three years' continuous service when aged over 41 and an average weekly pay of £277.00, but the redundancy payment already received of £961.88 was credited, leaving £284.62 payable on that element.

On compensation, the tribunal accepted that the claimant had fully mitigated her loss and had found lower-paid temporary employment. Applying Polkey v AE Dayton Services (HL), it limited loss of earnings and collateral benefits compensation to the 21-week period in the claimant's Schedule of Loss to 7 February 2020, awarding £1,006.88 for that loss and a further £500 for loss of statutory rights, making a compensatory award of £1,506.88. It also found that the respondent had made an unauthorised deduction from wages on termination and ordered payment of £104.50 gross. The tribunal noted that the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures does not apply to redundancies.