Ms N Mazouni v ,15 Solicitor Pure Bites Ltd — 2021

Ms N Mazouni brought claims for unfair dismissal, unlawful deduction from wages, and, after amendment at the hearing, breach of contract for failure to give notice. The respondent did not attend, and the tribunal proceeded in its absence under Rule 47 after making enquiries. The tribunal allowed the amendment to add the notice claim because the ET1 facts could support it and the claimant had been unrepresented when the original claim was prepared.

The tribunal held that the claimant had been unfairly dismissed and awarded £10,638.10 subject to the Employment Protection (Recoupment of Benefits) Regulations 1996. It identified a prescribed element of £5,854.70 covering 12 October 2020 to 26 April 2021, with the balance of £4,783.40 outside the prescribed period.

The tribunal also upheld two claims under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 for unlawful deductions from wages. It awarded £1,834.94 for one week of unpaid annual leave in September 2019 and 6.45 weeks' accrued untaken holiday outstanding at termination, and £2,167.44 for unpaid furlough wages for the periods 8 May to 19 June 2020 and 7 September to 12 October 2020. The sums at items 2 and 3 were expressed gross of tax and national insurance.

The breach of contract claim was dismissed. The tribunal found that the respondent had failed to give the statutory minimum twelve weeks' notice incorporated by section 86(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, but held that there were no recoverable losses because any loss from the failure to give notice had already been compensated within the unfair dismissal award.