(1) Mr A Osborne (2) Mr L Osborne v Milton & Stirling Ltd — 2021

The hearing took place remotely by CVP on 26 April 2021. The respondent did not attend or take part. Its late application for a postponement was refused because it was not explained, it was not pursued at the hearing, and the tribunal treated the case as a simple factual dispute that could be determined without in-person attendance. The tribunal relied on the claimants' evidence, including a text message from Mr John Lindsay on 29 September 2020 referring to payroll, holiday pay and the closure of the operation, which the tribunal said undermined the respondent's case that notice had already been given and holiday entitlement had been used and paid.

The tribunal found that both claimants had been dismissed without notice and had not been paid for all accrued holiday at the time of dismissal. For Mr A Osborne, the tribunal found that his contract provided only one week's notice, so it awarded £538.46 gross for breach of contract. It also found that he had accrued 20.9 days' holiday, had taken two days, and was owed 18.9 days' holiday pay at £107.69 per day, producing an award of £2,035.34 gross.

For Mr L Osborne, the tribunal similarly awarded one week's notice pay of £221.15 gross for breach of contract. It found that he had accrued 18.8 days' holiday, had taken four days, and was owed 14.8 days' holiday pay at £44.23 per day, producing an award of £654.60 gross. The tribunal also found that he had not been given a contract or written statement of particulars of employment, and made an additional award under s.38 of the Employment Act 2002 of four weeks' pay, amounting to £884.60.

Both redundancy payment claims were dismissed because each claimant lacked two years' qualifying service. The tribunal also recorded that the extra sums sought for expenses, stress, emotional distress and anxiety were not awarded because they were not recoverable on the way the claims were presented and were not supported as evidenced consequential loss claims.