Mr Raffel For the v Unrepresented — 2022

Mr Daniel Oaten was employed by The Westerfield Railway Ltd as a chef from 14 December 2017 on a 20-hour contract. After furlough during the lockdowns, he informed his line manager about other work abroad, agreed some shifts for May 2021, and on 29 April 2021 said that he wanted to be treated as a “relief chef” and that new hires could have his hours. He was then signed off work after injuring his Achilles tendon and later sought statutory sick pay.

The tribunal rejected the claimant’s case that he remained a permanent employee who had been dismissed. It found that he was not seeking annual leave or unpaid leave, but was instead setting out when he would be available while pursuing other work. On the tribunal’s findings, the original contract of employment ended on 29 April 2021 and a casual worker relationship started from that date. In reaching that conclusion, the tribunal referred to the statutory definitions of dismissal and employee status and to the principles in Ready Mixed Concrete and Carmichael on the existence of a contract of service and mutual obligations.

The respondent’s letter of 12 May 2021 said that employment had ended because the claimant had not made himself available for work in the week commencing 10 May 2021, but the tribunal accepted Mr Stone’s evidence that the intended reference was the week commencing 10 April 2021. The tribunal also accepted that the payment of £549.78 on 28 May 2021 was made as three weeks’ pay in lieu of notice and holiday pay, and it did not treat that payment as meaning the original contract had continued. The unfair dismissal claim was dismissed and no tribunal remedy was awarded.