Mr John Easton v - Solicitor Polmont Golf Club Limited — 2022

The Tribunal found that the Claimant’s employment transferred from Polmont Golf Club Limited to Braes Golf Centre Limited on or around 1 January 2020 under TUPE, and that the First Respondent was therefore no longer the correct respondent for the remaining claims. The separate TUPE complaint that the Respondents failed to consult the Claimant was dismissed because it was presented out of time. The Tribunal held that ignorance of the right was not reasonable in the circumstances, that the Claimant had not taken steps to investigate his rights at the time of the transfer, and that the claim was not brought within any further reasonable period.

On the merits of dismissal, the Tribunal found that the Claimant was expressly dismissed by the Second Respondent on 6 October 2021. It rejected the Respondent’s position that the Claimant had repudiated his contract by not returning on 1 October 2021, holding that the Respondent had not properly investigated his intentions and had not given a sustainable basis for treating his conduct as a repudiation. The Tribunal further held that, even if there had been ambiguity, the Claimant had taken reasonable steps to clarify matters by attending work, contacting management and his union representative, and sending a final email on 21 October 2021. The dismissal was held to be unfair because the Second Respondent failed to prove a potentially fair reason for dismissal and, in any event, there was no fair procedure at all.

The Tribunal dismissed the redundancy pay claim because there was no evidence that the Claimant had been dismissed by reason of redundancy. It upheld the wrongful dismissal element as a breach of contract claim for dismissal without notice, but made no separate compensation award because the notice-period loss was already covered by the unfair dismissal award. It also dismissed the separate breach of contract claim relating to pension contributions, because no contractual pension entitlement was proved and the relevant pension rights did not transfer under TUPE. The unlawful deduction from wages claim for 4 to 6 October 2021 was dismissed because the Tribunal treated the payment made on 8 October 2021 as payment for that work. The holiday pay claim succeeded: the Tribunal held that the Claimant was entitled to payment in lieu of untaken holiday on termination, including carry-over from the 2020/2021 leave year, and awarded £3,014.40. The unfair dismissal award was £19,332.79, made up of a basic award of £13,356.24 and a compensatory award of £5,976.55 after a 25% uplift. Taken together with the holiday pay award, the monetary outcome was £22,347.19.