Ms J Boyle, Nucleus Legal Advice Centre For the v Ms F Fernandez — 2020

The Claimant presented claims for unfair dismissal and holiday pay. No response was filed. At the remedy hearing on 2 September 2020 the Respondent said it had not received Tribunal correspondence, but its account of how it first became aware of the proceedings was unclear. The judge nevertheless allowed participation. After repeated interruptions and an outburst by Ms Baxter, the Respondent was disconnected from the hearing.

On the pay claim, the tribunal accepted the Claimant's February 2019 payslip evidence showing gross monthly pay of £1,833.33 and net pay of £1,496.64. It found that he had not been paid from 1 August 2019 until he resigned on 2 October 2019, and held that this was an unlawful deduction from wages. The tribunal found he should have been paid £3,835.90, increased that figure by 10% to £4,219.49 because the Respondent had wholly failed to deal with his grievance about pay, and also found that he had accrued but not taken one day's holiday, worth £84.62.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal found that the Claimant had three years' continuous service and was over 41 throughout his employment, so his basic award was £1,903.86. It awarded £17,960.80 for loss of earnings from 2 October 2019 to 1 October 2020, plus £500 for loss of statutory employment rights. Because the Claimant had not been given a written statement of particulars of employment, the tribunal increased the award by £690.76 under section 38 of the Employment Act 2002. It also recorded that the Claimant was in receipt of Universal Credit, so the recoupment regulations applied and £17,960.80 was the prescribed element subject to recoupment.