In person For the v Respondent — 2019

The claimant had worked on the family farm since 5 September 1994. After his father's death on 15 June 2019, K changed the locks on farm sheds on 7 July 2019 and refused to give the claimant a key. The claimant was signed off work with stress from 8 July 2019 and said he was not paid from May 2019 onwards. He treated the employment as having ended on 2 October 2019.

On the wages claim, the tribunal accepted that two later underpayments were proved from the claimant's second schedule of loss and spreadsheets, totalling £3,084.52. It rejected the earlier 2017 underpayments because they were out of time under section 23(4A) ERA 1996. The pension-contribution element of the wages claim was dismissed because the claimant did not challenge the respondent's evidence on that issue.

The holiday pay claim succeeded in the sum of £3,180.81, which the respondent accepted during the hearing. On constructive unfair dismissal, the tribunal held that the respondent's failure to pay wages and sick pay was a fundamental breach of contract and that the claimant resigned in response to that breach. It found that the lock changes were not material to liability, although it described them as an act of retaliation and assertion of control arising from the family dispute.

For remedy, the tribunal calculated the basic award on a weekly figure of £396.31 and a 19.5 multiplier, producing £7,728.05. It calculated the compensatory award using net weekly earnings of £441.78, a 41-week loss period, mitigation earnings of £7,429, and accepted sums for loss of statutory rights and pension benefits, giving £11,331.71. It rejected the separate claim for £948 in sick-pay differential because that loss did not flow from the dismissal. The total award was £25,325.09.