Case 3306018/2020 · Employment Tribunal
Mr D Lowes v Vinci Construction UK Limited — 2021
- Case reference
- 3306018/2020
- Decision date
- 16 July 2021
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Bloch QC
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Mr D Lowes
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe claimant resigned voluntarily from his employment with effect from 31 March 2020. He later asked the respondent to reinstate him into furlough arrangements after his expected new employment did not start because of the pandemic. The respondent declined, and the claimant brought a claim for four months' salary at £2,500 per month.
At the preliminary hearing the claimant struggled to identify a legal basis for the claim. The tribunal considered possible routes, including unlawful deduction from wages under the Employment Rights Act 1996 and unfair dismissal, but found no arguable wages claim because the sums claimed were not payable as wages, and no dismissal because the resignation was voluntary.
The tribunal found that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme did not give an employee a right to be placed on furlough and did not impose an obligation on the respondent to furlough the claimant. The claim was struck out because the tribunal lacked jurisdiction to hear it and/or it had no reasonable prospect of success.
Claims and outcomes
1 finding recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unlawful deduction from wages | The claim was for four months' furlough pay said to total £10,000. The tribunal held it had no jurisdiction and/or the claim had no reasonable prospect of success; if analysed as an unlawful deduction from wages claim under ss.13 and 23 ERA 1996, there was no arguable case that the sums claimed were payable as wages within s.27. | Struck out | — | — |
Legal tests applied
6 references- ss.13 and s.23 Employment Rights Act 1996
- s.27 Employment Rights Act 1996
- Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme paragraph 2.1
- Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme paragraph 6.1
- Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme paragraph 6.7
- no reasonable prospect of success
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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