Mrs Penny Eaton v The Parlour Stenhousemuir Limited — 2020

Mrs Penny Eaton brought a claim against The Parlour Stenhousemuir Limited for failure to pay holiday pay following the end of her employment as a café worker / barista. The respondent lodged an ET3 response and stated that the company was in the process of being put into liquidation and had no means to pay outstanding liabilities, but it did not attend the final hearing. The tribunal proceeded in the respondent's absence under Rules 47 and 48, taking into account the ET3 response and the material produced by the claimant.

The tribunal accepted the claimant's account that she had accrued but untaken holiday entitlement that had not been paid. The respondent's response accepted the employment dates, her hours, and that accrued holiday pay existed at termination, but said holiday requests had been rejected and that the company had no means to pay. The tribunal preferred the claimant's evidence and documents, including payslips showing remaining annual leave balances and hourly rates.

On the figures, the tribunal noted that the claimant had used rounded calculations in her hearing agenda, but the payslips showed 37.05 hours remaining at the end of the 2018/19 year at £7.83 per hour and 76.88 hours remaining at the end of the 2019/20 period at £8.21 per hour. It recalculated those sums as £290.10 and £631.18, giving a total award of £921.28. The tribunal therefore found her complaint well-founded and ordered the respondent to pay that amount.

The tribunal also directed that a copy of the judgment be sent to Companies House for information and for consideration in relation to any pending strike-off application, but it made no separate award for interest or any other heads of loss.