Mr C Wrightson v Rise Elevator Limited (in voluntary liquidation) — 2024

Mr C Wrightson claimed notice pay, car allowance, unpaid employer pension contributions and a quarterly bonus arising from his role as managing director of Rise Elevator Limited. The respondent did not attend and was not represented. The tribunal found the claimant's evidence on the balance of probabilities and accepted that his employment ended on 1 March 2023 when Rise was already in serious financial difficulty.

The tribunal held that the claimant had not waived his contractual notice rights and had expressly said that all employees' notice periods, including his own, should be honoured. It therefore awarded three months' notice pay of £15,000 gross. It also found that he proved entitlement to company car allowance and employer pension contributions for the same period, awarding £1,800 and £750 respectively. The judgment notes that the notice-pay award was gross and that any tax position would need to be dealt with if the award was enforced.

The quarterly bonus claim, pleaded at £13,500, was dismissed. The tribunal said it lacked the evidence needed to make a finding or perform a calculation, and it accepted that Rise was in serious financial difficulty by the end of February 2023 and had needed a loan to meet salary shortfalls. The tribunal also dismissed the respondent's contract claim, which alleged unauthorised or fraudulent payments to the claimant from company funds, finding it without foundation. The claimant's TUPE regulation 15 consultation claim was withdrawn and dismissed on that basis.