Mr Y B Gurung v Insignia Security Services Ltd — 2023

The tribunal first dismissed the respondent’s application to present a response out of time. It noted the response was nearly a year late, no satisfactory explanation had been given for the handling of mail sent to the respondent’s registered office, and the draft response did not address the claimant’s unpaid wages claim. The judge also considered the draft response weak on the holiday pay and redundancy issues, and held that the balance of prejudice and the overriding objective favoured refusal of the extension.

On the merits, the claimant said he had worked for the respondent as a security officer from 14 October 2019 to 30 June 2022 at Puckeridge Barracks, Aldershot, for 57.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday, and that he was paid monthly gross pay of £2,731. He said that at the end of March 2022 he was told the respondent had lost the security contract and that he would no longer be required when the contract ended at the end of June 2022. The tribunal accepted that he had not been paid for May and June 2022 and awarded £5,462 gross for unpaid wages under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The tribunal found that the claimant was dismissed by reason of redundancy within section 139 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and was entitled to a statutory redundancy payment under section 135. Because he had completed two full years’ service and was not below the age of 41 during both of those years, the tribunal applied section 162(2)(a) and calculated a redundancy payment of £1,891 based on a weekly gross pay of £630.23. The tribunal also found that he was entitled to holiday pay under regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations 1998, calculating entitlement from a 5.6 week annual leave allowance, the start of the leave year on 14 October, and termination on 30 June 2022, with credit for paid bank holidays, and awarded £1,638.

The total sum due was £8,991 gross, and the judgment records that the claimant is responsible for any tax due on that amount. No separate award of interest or other additional remedy was recorded in the judgment.