(1) Mrs A Taylor (2) Mrs P Bradley (3) Miss S Atkin v Flawless Makeover Studios Ltd and 1 other — 2022

At the preliminary issue hearing on 26 October 2022, Employment Judge Sweeney considered only whether Mrs Bradley, Miss Atkin and Mrs Taylor were employed by Flawless Makeover Studios Ltd (R1) or by Global Business Sales Ltd (R2) when their employment ended on 4 April 2022. The tribunal held that all three remained employees of R1 and ordered that R2 be dismissed from the proceedings.

For Mrs Bradley and Miss Atkin, the tribunal started from the written contracts identifying R1 as employer and found no express or implied consent to any move to R2. It rejected Ms Chippendale’s evidence that there had been a 2013 discussion or agreement to transfer, and found that references to Global on bank payments, occasional payslips, pension correspondence and insolvency paperwork did not show a change of employer. The tribunal found that they had been told not to worry when Global appeared in payment records and that they continued to understand themselves to be working for Flawless.

Mrs Taylor did not have a written contract, but the tribunal found that the advert, interview paperwork, offer email, day-to-day supervision and the absence of any explanation that she worked for Global all pointed to R1. It found that R1 arranged for R2 to pay wages and operate the pension scheme, but that the claimants were never told that their employer had changed. The judgment did not decide the substantive unfair dismissal complaints or make any monetary award.