Mr Graham Breckney v X Ltd — 2022

The claim was heard remotely on 12 May 2022. The respondent did not lodge a response form and did not appear, so the case proceeded undefended. The tribunal heard evidence from Mr Graham Breckney and found him to be credible and reliable. He had been employed by X402 Ltd from 1 October 2017 as Head of Quality Assurance and was told in early October 2021 that he was being dismissed for redundancy; he worked his notice and his employment ended on 5 November 2021.

On the redundancy claim, the tribunal found that the claimant was over 41 for all of his service and had four complete years' service. His gross weekly pay of £769.23 exceeded the statutory cap, so the redundancy payment was calculated using £544 as the relevant week's pay under the statutory formula. The tribunal awarded £3,264, being four years multiplied by 1.5 multiplied by £544. It noted that this matched the figure shown on the amended payslip and that the sum was not taxable.

On holiday pay, the tribunal found that the claimant had accrued but untaken annual leave at termination, including five days of public holidays and additional leave shown on the amended payslip, totalling £1,384.63. It treated the non-payment as an unlawful deduction from wages under regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and awarded that sum subject to any necessary statutory deduction. The overall award was £4,648.63.

The tribunal also considered whether to impose a financial penalty under section 12A of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996. It said there were aggravating features because the respondent had accepted that the sums were due but had not paid them, and it deferred the penalty question for 14 days to allow written submissions on ability to pay and on whether payment had since been made.