Mr P Sauberlich v Oxford Precision Components UK Ltd — 2019

All four claimants, Mr A Barry, Mr F Fowler, Mr M Kennett and Mr P Sauberlich, were employed by Oxford Precision Components UK Ltd. They arrived at the respondent's premises on 16 December 2017 and found the exterior locks had been changed by the landlord, after which they could not access the site to work. The tribunal accepted that management later said the lease issue would be resolved and wages would continue, but no further payments were made. Each claimant wrote to the respondent and, after receiving no response, treated himself as dismissed on 11 January 2018 in Mr Barry's case and 19 January 2018 in the other three cases.

The respondent filed no response and did not attend, so the case proceeded under Rule 21 before Employment Judge KJ Palmer sitting alone. The tribunal accepted the claimants' evidence and schedules of loss, and found effective dates of termination of 11 January 2018 for Mr Barry and 19 January 2018 for Mr Fowler, Mr Kennett and Mr Sauberlich. It also found that all four had mitigated their loss by finding other work relatively quickly.

For each claimant the tribunal upheld claims for statutory redundancy payment, unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal, holiday pay and unlawful deduction of wages. It corrected the loss of statutory rights figure, rejecting the schedules' two-weeks' gross pay approach and awarding £500 in each case. The individual awards were £5,175.44 for Mr Barry, £27,401.69 for Mr Fowler, £24,755.09 for Mr Kennett and £22,048.03 for Mr Sauberlich, making a total of £79,380.25.