Mr P Duti v Devran Kitchen Ltd — 2021

Mr P Duti was employed by Devran Kitchen Ltd as a waiter from 10 November 2019 to 5 July 2020. The tribunal found there was no written contract, that he was paid hourly at £8.25, and that the parties later agreed a furlough variation in March 2020 during the Covid closure. It accepted that his normal furlough salary was treated as £571.97 per month, corresponding to 16 hours per week, and found that he had taken no paid holiday during employment.

The tribunal found that on 5 July 2020 the claimant had worked two shifts earlier in July and attended work on 5 July while unpaid for June furlough money remained outstanding. A dispute over payment escalated into an argument. The tribunal rejected the respondent's case that the claimant resigned and instead found that Mr Elvan Acar, who was in day-to-day control of the restaurant, unambiguously dismissed him by forcing him to leave and making clear that he should not return. It rejected the respondent's account that the claimant had been told to come back and work out notice.

On liability, the tribunal held that the respondent had not proved conduct depriving the claimant of notice entitlement, so the statutory minimum notice period of one week applied. It awarded £139.52 for notice based on 16 hours per week at the National Minimum Wage rate of £8.72, and £49.68 for unpaid salary for 1 to 5 July 2020 after crediting the £50 paid on 5 July. It also rejected an uplift for furlough pay on the basis of the April 2020 minimum wage increase because no agreement provided for that.

For holiday, the tribunal applied regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and calculated a payment in lieu of unused leave of £511.60 using the period from 10 November 2019 to 5 July 2020. The operative monetary total ordered by the tribunal was £700.80.