Miss P Crossan v Represented by Mr S Muir - Union Representative CAT Property Limited — 2022

Miss P Crossan began work at the New Cumnock store in 1986 and the tribunal accepted that her contractual terms from the Co-op, confirmed in 2012, included sick pay based on a sliding scale. Those terms were carried forward when the business was transferred first to McColl's and then to CAT 1 Property Limited, and the tribunal found that the respondent inherited the Co-op contract under TUPE rather than the later McColl's terms. The claimant did not sign or accept the respondent's proposed 2021 contract, so the tribunal held that the attempted change to her contractual terms had not taken effect.

On that basis, the tribunal found that the claimant was entitled to contractual sick pay while absent on sick leave from September 2021. It accepted the calculation advanced on her behalf that 30 weeks' sick pay at £185.34 per week came to £5,560.20 net, from which £1,754 previously paid as statutory sick pay was deducted, leaving £3,806.20. The tribunal then accepted that the respondent had failed altogether to deal with the grievance raised about the contract and sick pay issue, and that this was an unreasonable failure to comply with the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures.

The tribunal therefore applied a 25% uplift under s.207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, adding £951.55 and producing a total award of £4,757.75. The separate holiday pay claim was treated as withdrawn because the claimant's employment had not ended and she was not yet entitled to payment in lieu of untaken leave.