Brandon Wardle v Ward Plumbing Heating and Mechanical Limited — 2024

This was a Rule 21 default judgment: the claim was presented on 15 August 2024 and the respondent failed to present a valid response in time, so Employment Judge Clark determined the claims on the information provided by the claimant. The tribunal found that the respondent had made unauthorised deductions from wages (£2,160 gross), had dismissed the claimant in breach of contract on notice (damages of £1,440 gross, reduced because the claimant took reasonable steps to mitigate and obtained equivalent employment from 11 May 2024), that the claimant was dismissed by reason of redundancy and entitled to a statutory redundancy payment of £2,100, and that unpaid holiday entitlement of £1,008 gross was owed.

A further claim relating to unquantified pension contributions (employee and employer contributions said not to have been paid into the claimant's NEST account) was not determined. The judge indicated that, if the arrangements arose purely under the Pensions Act 2008 auto-enrolment regime, the Employment Tribunal did not appear to have jurisdiction and the matter would be for the Pensions Regulator/Ombudsman. That claim was not dismissed at this stage but would stand dismissed on 20 December 2024 unless the claimant wrote to the tribunal setting out the basis of jurisdiction; a hearing listed on 3 January 2025 was to be cancelled if no such application was made.