Claimant v Wallace Water Ltd — 2019

Mr R Wallace, a project manager employed from January 2010, attended work on 21 September 2018 and was told that Wallace Water Limited was ceasing trading that day. His employment ended immediately. He later pursued matters through the Insolvency Service and contacted ACAS, presenting the tribunal claim on 7 March 2019, the same day the ACAS Early Conciliation certificate was issued.

The tribunal held that the wages, holiday pay and notice pay elements were out of time on their face, but applied the "not reasonably practicable" test and extended time. It accepted Mr Wallace's evidence as credible and reliable that he did not know about tribunal time limits, had not been told about them, and was focused on trying to resolve matters through the Insolvency Service and on finding alternative employment.

On the merits, the tribunal found that 21 days' wages in September 2018 remained unpaid, that he had accrued 11 days of untaken holiday at termination, that he was entitled to 8 weeks' notice pay, and that he was dismissed by reason of redundancy. It awarded £2,275 for unpaid wages, £1,192 for holiday pay, £6,000 for breach of contract notice pay, and £4,572 as the statutory redundancy payment, making a total of £14,039.