Mr A McAleavy v The Harmony Employment Agency Limited — 2023

This was a preliminary hearing on whether Mr A McAleavy had sufficient continuous service to bring an unfair dismissal claim against The Harmony Employment Agency Limited. The tribunal applied sections 108 and 211 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and referred to General of the Salvation Army v Dewsbury, Koenig v Mind Gym Ltd, and O'Sullivan v DSM Demolition Ltd.

Although the respondent relied on a contract, HMRC starter checklist, and a 31 March 2020 email referring to a 6 January 2020 start date, the tribunal held that those documents were not definitive. It accepted that from 18 November 2019 the claimant attended transition, business, and team meetings with respondent employees, chaired at least one team meeting, and carried out work relating to the Senior Manager role with the respondent's knowledge.

The tribunal rejected the respondent's case that the claimant's attendance was merely as a friend, mentor, or part of an informal recruitment process. It found that he was acting in the capacity of Senior Manager, that other attendees understood him to be doing so, and that he was paid for 22.5 hours of work undertaken before 6 January 2020.

The tribunal therefore found that the claimant started work for the respondent on 18 November 2019 and so had sufficient service to bring an unfair dismissal claim. It stated that its findings related only to the preliminary service issue and would not bind any future tribunal dealing with the merits of the claim.