In person For the v Mr Rajan Luthra (Director) — 2022

The claimant was employed by Swans Day Nurseries Ltd as a Senior Nursery Practitioner and gave notice on 20 September 2021. Her notice period was three months, but she was summarily dismissed on 15 October 2021 before the notice period ended. The tribunal accepted that her pay rate was £9 per hour and found that she had three complete years' service for the purpose of the basic award.

The tribunal preferred the claimant's account of the 15 October meeting. It found that she was not under the influence of alcohol, was not told of any parental complaints before the dismissal, and was not shown the Employee Concern Forms or the statements relied on by the respondent. The tribunal rejected the respondent's case that alcohol, parental complaints, and inappropriate language were the true reasons for dismissal, finding in particular that the alcohol allegation was later fabricated and that the other allegations were not the real basis for the decision.

On that basis, the respondent failed to establish a statutory reason for dismissal under s.98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, so the dismissal was unfair. The tribunal also concluded that the respondent had not carried out a reasonable investigation or properly put the allegations to the claimant, and that her appeal was ignored. It recorded that the claimant was entitled to a basic award of £1,215.00 and a compensatory award of £3,807.00, with no tax deduction and no prescribed element.

The tribunal applied a 25% uplift under s.207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and stated the total payable as £5,325.75. It calculated the basic award by reference to 3 weeks' pay at 45 hours per week and the compensatory award by reference to the remaining 47 days of notice at 9 hours per day at £9 per hour.