Mr A Gill & Others v Do & Co Event & Airline Catering Limited — 2024

This was a lead-case determination in a large multiple arising from redundancy dismissals by an airline caterer following the TUPE transfer of staff from Gate Gourmet and DHL in 2020, which coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic and a sharp reduction in air travel. The Tribunal heard the unfair dismissal claims of six lead Claimants together with a protective award claim brought by Unite. Redundancy payment claims were dismissed on withdrawal, and Mr Barry's claims were dismissed on withdrawal following settlement.

The Tribunal found that the unfair dismissal claims of Mr Dhanda, Mr Singh, Mrs Didi and Mr Anwar were well-founded and succeeded. Mr Gill's unfair dismissal claim was dismissed because he lacked the two years' continuous employment required to bring such a claim. The Tribunal was critical of the Respondent's approach to the selection exercise, finding that it embarked upon scoring without having agreed criteria and without sufficient consideration of whether the proposed method would enable it to achieve the required number of dismissals, and that consultation was inept.

The protective award claim brought by Unite was dismissed as not well-founded. The Tribunal accepted that Unite was recognised by the Respondent by the time of the dismissals, but did not accept that special circumstances would have applied; uncertainty over continuing government Covid-19 support schemes did not make it not reasonably practicable to consult properly. Pursuant to rule 36, the judgment is binding on the unfair dismissal and protective award claims of the other Claimants case-managed as part of the multiple, subject to the parties' right to apply within 28 days for an order that it should not apply in their cases.