Ms N Fodor v Westwood Hotel Limited v — 2021

Ms N Fodor worked for Westwood Hotel Limited from 10 December 2018 to 15 December 2019 as a hotel receptionist/front of house supervisor on £8.21 an hour. Her contract provided 28 days' annual leave, four weeks' notice, and accommodation at £40 per week. The hotel closed from time to time, pay was agreed weekly although payslips were issued monthly, and the tribunal found that rent was not in fact charged in some months when the respondent had chosen not to do so.

For the holiday pay claim, the tribunal found that the respondent had no contractual right to place the employment on hold or to lay off staff, so the claimant remained employed during August 2019. It accepted that she had been paid £422 for holiday taken up to 31 July 2019, but held that on termination she had 11.5 days of untaken leave outstanding and also accrued 2.15 days during the four-week notice period. Applying regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations 1998, the tribunal calculated £755 for leave accrued to termination and £141 for leave accrued during notice, and awarded £896 gross for unpaid holiday pay.

The tribunal rejected the respondent's attempt to reduce the leave award by £420 alleged rent arrears. It found either that rent was not due for some months because the respondent had chosen not to charge it, or that in any event the respondent had not proved the amount or how it was calculated. The tribunal also noted that the respondent had advanced different accounts of the sum said to be owed.

The claimant was allowed to amend her case to add a contractual notice claim. The tribunal accepted the respondent's own ET3 case that notice had been given on 8 December 2019 and held that the contract required four weeks' notice. It calculated gross notice pay at £1,313.60, deducted £160 for rent over the notice period, and then made estimated deductions for tax and national insurance, producing a net award of £1,056.