Raymond Holt v John Gibson Hire & Sales Ltd — 2020

The case was decided under rule 21 because the respondent did not file a response. The claimant had presented claims on 9 May 2020 for unfair dismissal, unlawful deduction of wages, and holiday pay, and later obtained permission to amend to add a redundancy payment claim because it arose from the same facts and caused no prejudice. The tribunal found the claimant had been employed from 5 November 2013 until 17 March 2020, when he resigned without notice after the respondent failed to pay January, February, and part of March 2020 wages. The tribunal held that failure to pay wages was a fundamental breach, that the claimant was entitled to accept that breach and terminate the contract, and that the dismissal was by reason of redundancy because the respondent intended to cease carrying on the business and its requirements for employees to do that work had diminished.

The tribunal also found the dismissal unfair because there was no process, no warning, and no engagement by the respondent with the claimant’s requests for payment or the possibility of redundancy. It found that by the date of dismissal the claimant had accrued 10 days of untaken holiday, which remained unpaid. On remedy, the tribunal recorded that the claimant had six complete years of service, was 56 years old, and had a gross weekly pay of £543.20 capped at £525 for the statutory calculation. The basic award was calculated at £4,725 but reduced to zero under section 122(4)(a) ERA 1996, no compensatory award was claimed, and the tribunal ordered payment of £4,725 redundancy pay, £6,018.53 for unlawful deductions, and £1,086.40 for holiday pay, making a total award of £11,829.93.