Ms D Wilson v JD Wetherspoons plc — 2023

The claimant, Ms D Wilson, brought claims including unfair dismissal, redundancy pay, holiday pay and payment in respect of shares. At the preliminary hearing, she confirmed she no longer wished to proceed with the unfair dismissal claim, and the redundancy pay claim was also dismissed. The respondent had accepted that the claimant was dismissed for gross misconduct, but the tribunal did not determine the merits of unfair dismissal because that claim was no longer pursued.

The tribunal then considered the shares issue. It found that the claimant had accumulated shares through the Share Incentive Plan and by purchase, and that the only plan shares retained after dismissal were those allocated on 25 March 2019. Together with the shares she had purchased, the claimant held 55 shares. The tribunal held that it was not competent for the respondent to make payment to the claimant for shares she already held, because the shares belonged to her and it was for her to decide whether to keep or sell them. The tribunal indicated that the respondent should contact the scheme administrator so that written contact could be made with the claimant.

On holiday pay, the claimant said she had 19.5 days outstanding and believed she had not taken leave between April 2022 and dismissal. The tribunal accepted, on the basis of the respondent's policy, that no payment would be made in lieu of outstanding loyalty reward on leaving the company, including dismissal, so the claim was reduced by the loyalty leave element. It accepted the respondent's evidence that the claimant had 10 days entitlement in total, had taken 8 days, and had already been paid for the 2 days outstanding on 5 August 2022. The tribunal preferred the respondent's records to the claimant's evidence and concluded that the claimant had not shown any annual leave remained unpaid, so the holiday pay claim was dismissed.