Mrs May Kirkland v Mrs Marjorie Allen [First Respondent] Mr Stuart Dixon [Second Respondent] CMD Pubs (Crawcrook) Limited [Third Respondent] Heard: Remotely (by telephone in public) — 2021

At the public preliminary hearing on 4 February 2021, Employment Judge S Shore proceeded under Rule 21 after the first respondent failed to enter an appearance and failed to respond to a case management order. The responses of the second and third respondents were struck out as having no reasonable prospect of success, and the case against the second respondent was stayed until 5 May 2021 unless restored.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal found that Mrs May Kirkland was unfairly dismissed and that the principal reason for dismissal was a relevant TUPE transfer, making the dismissal automatically unfair under regulation 7 of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006. The tribunal recorded that the effective date of termination was 5 January 2020, that the claimant was 58 years old, and that she had 14 complete years of service from 1 May 2005. It awarded a basic award of £2,751 and a compensatory award of £2,096, made up of £1,834 for loss of earnings and £262 for loss of statutory rights.

The tribunal found that the claimant did not contribute to her dismissal, so there was no reduction for contributory fault, and it applied no Polkey deduction. It also found that the Recoupment Regulations did not apply. The unfair dismissal award was made against the first respondent only.

Separately, the first respondent was found to have breached the contract of employment by failing to pay notice pay, with compensation calculated at £1,572, and to have failed to provide a written statement of terms and conditions of employment as required by section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, with compensation of £524. For the TUPE consultation claim, the tribunal found a failure to consult contrary to regulation 13 of the TUPE Regulations 2006 and awarded 13 weeks' pay, £1,703, payable jointly and severally by the first and third respondents. The total payable by the first respondent was £6,970, and the joint and several award against the first and third respondents was £1,703.