Mrs A Jaguszewska v Newway Beauty Concept Limited — 2019

The claimant had been employed as a head therapist from 1 August 2011, with later contractual transfers to Newway Holding (London) Ltd and then Newway Beauty Concept Ltd. While she was on annual leave, she received WhatsApp messages on 31 December 2018 and 3 January 2019 stating first that the beauty centre would close until 7 January and then that the company was permanently closed and under full administration. The tribunal found the effective date of termination was 3 January 2019, and noted that she had not received notice monies and had later received payments from the Insolvency Service calculated against a different company.

The tribunal upheld the unlawful deduction from wages claim for the period 1 December 2018 to 3 January 2019. It calculated gross unpaid wages at £2,528.19 and deducted £569.28 already paid to the claimant to avoid double recovery, leaving an award of £1,958.91. It also upheld the wrongful dismissal claim and awarded £3,109.96 gross as damages in lieu of notice for the period 3 December 2018 to 17 February 2019.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal accepted that although the claimant's role could appear redundant, other colleagues were employed at other salons and some had been transferred there, so she could still have been working. It therefore found the dismissal unfair. The tribunal calculated a basic award on seven years' service at £3,556, then deducted the £1,016 redundancy payment already received, producing a basic award of £2,540. It also found that the claimant was making appropriate efforts to find work until 17 March 2019, when she decided to focus on her studies and a career change, so it limited compensation to one month and awarded a compensatory award of £2,416.66. The total monetary award was £10,025.53.