Mrs D McGowan v Grant Property Solutions Ltd — 2018

The tribunal found that Mrs McGowan started work with Grant Property Solutions Ltd on 15 June 2015 and moved into a revised Portfolio Manager role on 11 April 2016. At a meeting on 18 May 2017, Mr Hutton told her that her employment was ending with immediate effect because of performance, and that she would be paid one month's notice pay in lieu. The tribunal also recorded that she was not given a dismissal letter at the time, later sent grievance and appeal letters, and was subsequently paid in the respondent's June payroll, with a further three days' pay later made when she queried the notice period calculation.

The issue for determination was whether the effective date of termination was 18 May 2017 or a later date tied to the notice payment. Applying section 97(1)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal held that the claimant's employment was terminated verbally without notice on 18 May 2017 and that the later payment in lieu of notice did not extend the employment relationship to 15 or 18 June 2017. It also accepted the claimant's own evidence that she was dismissed with immediate effect on 18 May 2017.

Because the tribunal found that the effective date of termination was 18 May 2017, it concluded that the claimant had less than two years' continuous employment for the purposes of section 108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The tribunal therefore held that it had no jurisdiction to consider the unfair dismissal complaint and dismissed it.