Mr L Morrison v Fairway Lodge Limited — 2021

At the Manchester hearing on 11 and 12 October 2021, Employment Judge Slater sitting alone found that the claimant had been employed at Fairways Lodge from 1 August 2012 and that his continuity of employment was preserved through a TUPE transfer. The tribunal found that the hotel business remained a stable economic entity providing rooms and leisure facilities after 4 September 2018, initially under Mr Chohan and then, on or shortly after 9 October 2018, under the respondent company. On that basis, the claimant had eight years' continuous service when his employment ended on 7 August 2020.

The tribunal held that the claimant was dismissed by reason of redundancy because the respondent no longer needed a full-time bar person in the circumstances of the pandemic and the limited reopening of the hotel. It accepted that a pool of one was within the range of a reasonable process on the facts, but found the dismissal unfair because the claimant was given no prior consultation and was not asked about alternatives such as reduced hours or other duties. The unfair dismissal complaint was therefore well-founded.

The tribunal also held that the claimant was entitled to a statutory redundancy payment and that the respondent was in breach of contract because it did not give the eight weeks' notice required by his length of service. He was paid three weeks in lieu. The unpaid wages complaint for April 2020 was withdrawn by the claimant and dismissed on withdrawal. After the liability decision, the parties reached a remedy settlement by consent, and the respondent was ordered to pay £9,500 in settlement of all the claimant's successful complaints.