Assisted by his father Mr F Fox For the v Dr Ivor Ibakakombo — 2020

The tribunal held that the claimant was employed by Mr Thetka individually, trading as Nimy Collezioni, and that Nimy Collezioni Embroidery Limited never existed. It accepted the Acas certificate as covering the respondent or, alternatively, amended the respondent's name. The claimant worked as a shop assistant from 29 March 2018 to 10 September 2018, so the unfair dismissal claim failed because he did not have two years' service.

The claim for unauthorised deductions was well-founded because £1,156 was deducted from pay for tax and National Insurance but not paid to HMRC. The respondent discharged that liability by paying £1,156 at the hearing, so no further award was made on that head. The tribunal also made a declaration on the pay/tax position. It further found that the respondent's attempt to reduce the claimant's hours from 28 to 22 and switch him to self-employed status was a repudiatory breach, so the claimant was constructively dismissed and was awarded one week's notice pay of £206.64.

The tribunal found a breach of the obligation to provide written particulars within eight weeks of employment and awarded four weeks' pay of £826.56 under s.1 ERA 1996. It also found that the claimant was disabled by reason of Asperger's syndrome and dyspraxia, that the respondent knew this, and that direct disability discrimination occurred when the respondent withheld or mishandled the deductions, issued a July 2018 contract that was not backdated to 29 March 2018, and used the wrong employer name.

Applying the burden-shifting approach under s.136 Equality Act 2010 and Igen v Wong, the tribunal awarded £6,000 for injury to feelings, giving a total compensation figure of £7,033.20. It rejected indirect discrimination as undeveloped and declined to impose a penalty under s.12A of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 because it was not satisfied that the respondent had the means to pay it.