Case 3313268/2019 · Employment Tribunal
Mr P Wilk v Mr A Wackers FINAL HEARING — 2020
- Case reference
- 3313268/2019
- Decision date
- 14 April 2020
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Bartlett
- Venue
- Watford
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Mr P Wilk
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe claimant, a Hungarian national employed as a live-in personal care assistant from 2016 until 7 February 2019, alleged race discrimination, harassment, automatic unfair dismissal, breach of the ACAS Code, failure to give written reasons for dismissal, and unpaid holiday pay. The respondent did not attend or respond. The tribunal treated nationality as race for Equality Act purposes and accepted that the respondent complained when the claimant spoke Hungarian.
Direct discrimination and harassment were upheld only in relation to two incidents: preventing the claimant from speaking his native language and issuing a final written warning. The tribunal found the final written warning was without justification and that its wording alluded to the claimant speaking English as a second language. Other pleaded discrimination allegations, including underpayment, working-time and rest complaints, living conditions, suspension, the police report, the appeal failure, and the redundancy process, were rejected as not being linked to nationality.
The claimant succeeded on automatic unfair dismissal under s.104(1)(b) ERA 1996. The tribunal found that he had asserted his right to be paid the National Minimum Wage around 3 January 2018, that there was no genuine redundancy, and that the dismissal followed the dispute about pay. It also found a breach of the ACAS Code because the respondent failed to deal with the appeal, and it found no evidence that written reasons for dismissal had been provided. Holiday pay under regulation 13 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 was also awarded.
On remedy, the tribunal rejected the claimant's contention that he worked 22 hours a day. It found that he worked 92 hours per week for NMW purposes, applied the April 2018 to March 2019 rate of £7.83 and the April 2019 to March 2020 rate of £8.21, and awarded a basic award of £1,524, a compensatory award of £36,405.78, and a 5% uplift to a total unfair dismissal award of £39,826.26 gross. It also awarded 2 weeks' notice pay of £1,440.72 gross, holiday pay of £2,265.96 gross, £9,000 for injury to feelings at the lower end of the middle Vento band, and 2 weeks' pay of £1,510.64 gross for failure to provide written reasons. These explicit awards total £54,043.58 gross.
Claims and outcomes
7 findings recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race discrimination | Nationality was treated as race. Direct discrimination was found where the respondent prevented the claimant from speaking Hungarian and issued a final written warning; the tribunal rejected the other pleaded discrimination allegations as not linked to nationality. The £9,000 injury to feelings award was made globally for the discrimination and harassment findings and was not separately apportioned. | Upheld | Race | — |
| Harassment | Harassment was found on the same two incidents: preventing the claimant from speaking Hungarian and issuing the final written warning. The tribunal said the conduct created a hostile and intimidating working environment. | Upheld | Race | — |
| Unfair dismissal | Automatically unfair under s.104(1)(b) ERA 1996 because the claimant asserted his right to be paid the National Minimum Wage around 3 January 2018. The tribunal rejected the respondent's redundancy explanation and awarded a basic award, compensatory award, and 5% ACAS uplift; paragraphs 67 to 68 contain an arithmetic inconsistency, but the stated total is £39,826.26 gross. | Upheld | — | £39,826 |
| Breach of contract | The tribunal awarded two weeks' notice pay gross. | Upheld | — | £1,441 |
| Holiday pay | The tribunal found 21 days' holiday had not been paid and awarded three weeks' pay gross. | Upheld | — | £2,266 |
Remedy
Monetary award- Total award
- £54,044
- across all upheld claims
- Basic award
- £1,524
- statutory, unfair dismissal
- Compensatory award
- £36,406
- compensatory remedy recorded
Legal tests applied
5 references- Igen Ltd v Wong
- Barton v Investec Securities Ltd
- Project Management Institute v Latif
- Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake [2018] EWCA Civ 1641
- s.104(1)(b) ERA 1996
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.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
Named in this case and want it removed? Submit a takedown request. The page will be withdrawn on receipt and the editor will follow up within five working days.