Mrs T Biswas v Creams Blue Water Foods Ltd — 2021

Mrs T Biswas worked for Creams Blue Water Foods Ltd from 28 November 2018 and was dismissed on 30 June 2020 when her manager texted that she no longer worked there. The respondent did not attend the remote hearing and was not represented. The tribunal accepted her evidence and payslips, and found that her hourly rate was £8.31 and her weekly pay for a 16-hour week was £132.96.

The tribunal found that Ms Biswas had been placed on furlough after travelling to Bangladesh on 14 February 2020, that she was paid for April 2020, and that she was not paid for May or June 2020. It accepted her monthly pay at £550 and held that she was entitled to 80% of two months' pay, namely £880. It also found that she had not been paid the first two weeks of her employment, which were treated as '2 weeks in hand', and awarded £265.92 for that element. Those sums made up the £1,145.92 deduction from wages award.

The tribunal also awarded holiday pay. It found that no holiday pay had been paid during employment, calculated accrued entitlement at 9.1 weeks, and valued that entitlement at £1,209.94. It further awarded one week's notice pay of £132.96, because the claimant had been employed for more than one year but less than two years and had not been given notice.

The tribunal noted that the dismissal was a summary dismissal and that no potentially fair reason had been given, but it held that Ms Biswas could not bring an unfair dismissal claim because she had worked for the respondent for less than two years. The total awarded was £2,488.82.