Mrs. M Harkin v Laniwyn Care Services Ltd Final Hearing — 2023

Mrs M Harkin was employed by Laniwyn Care Services Ltd as registered manager from 1 January 2020 until 1 March 2022, with a gross salary of £32,100. The tribunal accepted her account of the meeting on 1 March 2022, finding that she was told the business could not afford her salary, did not need a registered manager, and would not consider a salary reduction. She then texted later that day that she wanted to leave with immediate effect, and the tribunal treated that as counter-notice during her contractual and statutory notice period under s.136(3) ERA 1996.

On liability, the tribunal held that there was no redundancy situation within s.139(1) ERA 1996 because the respondent still required a registered manager and later appointed Raphael Adewale Thomas to that role in the same year. It found that the respondent had not applied its mind to any selection pool, had not considered suitable alternative employment, had given no prior warning, and had not carried out meaningful consultation before dismissing her. The tribunal therefore found the dismissal unfair under s.98(4) ERA 1996 and said that, even if redundancy had been established, the procedure was outside the range of reasonable responses.

The other claims were dismissed. The redundancy pay claim failed because there was no redundancy situation, although the respondent had already paid £1,682 gross redundancy pay, which the tribunal said would be credited when unfair dismissal compensation was assessed. The holiday pay and arrears of pay claims were dismissed because the respondent showed payments of £3,086.55 and £617.31 respectively on 7 June 2022. The notice pay claim was dismissed because the claimant had said she would not work her notice and the tribunal held that the respondent was not liable to pay notice pay under s.91(4) ERA 1996. A further hearing was listed to determine remedy for the unfair dismissal claim.