Mr David Graham v Gravity Supply Chain Solutions Limited and 2 others — 2024

The tribunal found that the claimant was unfairly dismissed by the first respondent, with counsel for the respondents conceding procedural unfairness on the first day of the hearing. Reliance on redundancy was abandoned, and the respondents maintained an argument under s.123 ERA 1996 that the relationship would have ended in March 2022 in any event because the claimant had obtained alternative work. The tribunal also upheld a claim of direct disability discrimination against both respondents on an associative basis: the protected characteristic was held by the claimant's wife, who was disabled within section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 following her diagnosis of terminal stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, and the respondents had actual knowledge throughout. The single act of dismissal was treated as the relevant detriment.

The claim of victimisation failed and was dismissed. Of two unauthorised deduction from wages claims, the first (concerning SSP rather than full pay in September 2021) was dismissed; the second (concerning secondary commission due in December 2021) succeeded, but no separate award was made because the same loss was compensated within the discrimination award. The breach of contract claims were dismissed, and the claim for accrued but untaken holiday pay succeeded against the first respondent only.

On remedy, the tribunal awarded a basic award of £5,139, a notional award for loss of statutory rights, loss of primary and secondary commission, injury to feelings of £22,000 (including an aggravated damages element), and holiday pay of £5,553.24 and a shortfall in sick pay of £3,096.73. A 25% uplift under s.207A TULR(C)A was applied to all awards other than the basic award, and interest under the Employment Tribunals (Interest on Awards in Discrimination Cases) Regulations 1996 was applied to the Equality Act elements. After grossing up at the claimant's marginal income tax rate of 45%, the grand total was £89,891.94.