N Emberson (lay representative) For the v Orion Corporate Solutions Ltd (in voluntary liquidation) — 2024

The tribunal dealt only with claim no. 3307515/2023. It found that Orion Corporate Solutions Limited ceased trading on 31 May 2022 and entered voluntary liquidation on 22 November 2022. Mr Emberson, acting for the claimant, had made redundancy, holiday pay and notice pay applications to the Redundancy Payment Service on 22 November 2022 after advice from insolvency practitioners, but the redundancy element was later rejected by the RPS as out of time and only part of the holiday pay claim was paid.

On the redundancy claim, the tribunal found that the claimant had been dismissed by way of redundancy on 31 May 2022 and was entitled to a redundancy payment of £5,267. It accepted that Mr Emberson had believed an earlier redundancy notice issued in November 2021 was sufficient, that he acted promptly once advised in November 2022 that a further notice was needed, and that the tribunal claim was filed within the relevant extended period. Applying s164 ERA 1996, the tribunal concluded that it was just and equitable for the claimant to receive a redundancy payment.

The separate complaint about holiday pay and notice pay under s188 ERA 1996 was dismissed. The tribunal found that the Secretary of State's decision had been communicated on 9 March 2023 and that the last date for presenting the tribunal complaint was 8 June 2023. It held that claims under s182/s188 were not extended by early conciliation and that it was reasonably practicable for the claim to have been filed in time because Mr Emberson was managing the claims himself and could have researched the deadline. Holidays, work commitments, and the claimant's illness were not enough to excuse the late filing.