Mr Michael Hannant v Hambling Utility Services Limited and 1 other — 2020

The claimant worked for Hambling Utility Services Limited as a customer services technician from 30 January 2018 to 25 February 2020 on an Anglian Water/Kier contract. He told the second respondent on 4 December 2019 that his father had cancer and that his mother had had an operation, and the tribunal accepted that both parents were disabled. It found that the respondents knew of the father's cancer from 4 December 2019, but did not have sufficient knowledge to know that the mother was disabled.

The tribunal found that a genuine redundancy situation had arisen when Kier/Anglian Water no longer needed the claimant's work. It accepted that the first respondent was a small business with limited control over day-to-day work, and that the dismissal reason was redundancy rather than disability. The direct disability discrimination claim therefore failed, including the allegations based on non-payment of full wages for the last 7 days and on dismissal. The claim against Gary Hambling also failed with the failed discrimination claim.

The dismissal was nevertheless procedurally unfair because there was no consultation meeting, no appeal, no evidence of any real search for alternative work, and no consideration of pooling with other workers. The tribunal found that, if a fair process had been followed, there was only a 25% chance the claimant would not have been dismissed anyway, so the compensatory award was reduced under Polkey from £2,440 to £610. No ACAS uplift was made because the dismissal was found to be a redundancy dismissal.

The tribunal awarded £1,200 redundancy pay, £800 notice pay, and £428.05 gross for 7 days' wages after deducting SSP. The holiday pay claim was dismissed because it had already been satisfied, and the tribunal made an additional £800 award under section 38 Employment Act 2002 for inadequate terms and conditions. The total amount due from the first respondent was £3,838.05.