Ms G Rowcliffe v South Sea Chinese Limited — 2022

Employment Judge Malik heard the case at Manchester ET on 9 May 2022. The tribunal found that Ms G Rowcliffe had been continuously employed by South Sea Chinese Limited from 19 September 2016 until 15 November 2019, so she had sufficient qualifying service to bring claims for unfair dismissal and redundancy pay. It also found that her dismissal was by reason of redundancy and ordered the respondent to pay a redundancy payment of £384.

The unfair dismissal complaint succeeded, but the financial award was limited. The tribunal said the basic award of £384 was reduced to zero because the redundancy payment was set against it. No compensatory award was made because the tribunal found there was a 100% chance that the claimant would have been dismissed even if a fair redundancy procedure had been followed, applying Polkey v A E Dayton Service Limited 1988 ICR 142.

The tribunal also found that the respondent had not paid all of the claimant’s notice pay. On the tribunal’s calculation, the claimant had two full years of employment, so the notice entitlement in the absence of a written contract was £256. After taking account of the £150 already paid, the amount due was £106.

Finally, the tribunal found an unauthorised deduction from wages in relation to accrued but untaken holiday and ordered payment of £468. The total amount payable by the respondent was £958.