Mrs A Boczek v Ryecourt Limited — 2022

Mrs A Boczek worked for Ryecourt Limited as a carer at Belsfield Care Home from 13 October 2020 until she resigned on 27 April 2021. The tribunal found that her employment contract contained a 6-month probationary period, but that completion of probation had not been confirmed by the employer. On that basis, her contractual notice period remained 1 month, not 3 months. The tribunal also found that she resigned without notice and without any conduct by the respondent that would have justified doing so.

The breach of contract complaint was dismissed because the claimant had not given the required notice and the respondent was contractually entitled to recover the cost of cover for the notice period she should have worked. However, the tribunal held that the respondent had applied the wrong notice period when calculating its outlay and could only recover £127.92 rather than the £383.76 originally applied on a 3-month basis. The unlawful deduction from wages complaint was also dismissed because the tribunal accepted the time-recording evidence and found that the claimant had been paid the wages due to her on termination.

The holiday pay complaint succeeded. The tribunal found that the claimant had accrued untaken 2020 holiday but had not had a practical opportunity to take it because of staffing shortages and the effects of coronavirus, and that she was entitled to payment in lieu. It calculated accrued but untaken holiday for 2020 at £266.90 after deducting bank holiday pay already taken, and accepted the respondent's 2021 accrual calculation of £300.69, giving total holiday pay of £567.59. After deducting the permitted notice-period outlay of £127.92, the tribunal ordered the respondent to pay £439.67 gross, which it identified as the only successful complaint in the proceedings.