Melvin Taylor v AB Metalwork Ltd — 2022

Melvin Taylor, a welder fabricator, resigned on 26 May 2020 after disagreements that pre-dated lockdown and after issues about furlough pay, unpaid leave between 15 and 26 May 2020, and the absence of a produced Covid-19 risk assessment. The tribunal found that Mr Mitchell had telephoned staff on 11 May 2020 asking them to return to work, that Mr Taylor knew he was expected back, and that the workplace had been made as Covid-secure as possible. Although the tribunal found no risk assessment had been produced, it held that this omission was culpable but not a fundamental breach of contract.

The claim for constructive unfair dismissal failed. The tribunal held that the furlough pay arrangement was based on Mr Taylor's fixed 17.5-hour contract, not variable hours, and that there was no contractual breach in paying him 80% of his contracted hours or in treating his later absence from 15 to 26 May 2020 as authorised but unpaid leave when he declined to return to work. It also rejected the s.100(1)(c) automatic unfair dismissal argument, finding no evidence of a health and safety risk to Mr Taylor's parents or daughter beyond that faced by others and, in any event, that his resignation letter showed the main reasons for leaving were wider grievances that pre-dated the pandemic.

The unlawful deduction from wages claim was dismissed, but the tribunal upheld the holiday pay claim. Applying the 52-week averaging method from 6 April 2020, it calculated an average weekly pay of £287.14, then estimated the balance due on 11.5 days' holiday after allowing for sums already paid. Because the figures were approximate and the parties' calculations differed, the tribunal rounded the balance down to £550. The respondent's costs application was refused.