India Mustafa v Hicking Financial Services Ltd — 2024

Ms Mustafa worked for Hicking Financial Services Ltd from 1 March 2018 as personal assistant to Daniel Hicking. The tribunal accepted that the respondent ceased trading after it had to leave the network through which it conducted its business, and found that the claimant's employment ended on 31 December 2022. It further found that the reason for dismissal was redundancy.

The claims for unpaid wages under s.13 ERA 1996 and for holiday pay were out of time. The tribunal found that the effective date of termination was 31 December 2022, so the 3-month time limit expired on 30 March 2023. The claimant accepted it had been reasonably practicable to bring those claims in time and withdrew them, and the tribunal dismissed them on withdrawal.

For the redundancy payment claim, the tribunal found that the claimant had 4 full years' service and was entitled to 4 weeks' notice under s.86 ERA 1996, which meant the ordinary extended deadline for bringing a redundancy payment claim ran to 9 July 2023. Although the claimant did not contact Acas until 11 July 2023, the tribunal exercised its discretion under s.164(2)(c) and applied s.164(3) ERA 1996 because the claimant had a good reason for delay: she and Mr Hicking had a good personal relationship, there had been contact suggesting he hoped to pay the redundancy payment, and the claimant therefore did not issue proceedings earlier.

The tribunal accepted the respondent's own position that the claimant was entitled to a redundancy payment and calculated the award by reference to a salary of £30,000 a year, which equated to £576.92 a week, capped at the statutory weekly maximum of £571. With 4 years' service at age over 21 for each year, the redundancy payment was 4 x £571, making a total award of £2,284.