Mr T Siddall v Falkirk Car Carriers Limited — 2019

The claimant worked for the respondent as a driver from 22 July 2018 to 21 November 2018 on a basic 40-hour week with 28 days' holiday. He queried holiday pay in late October 2018, sent an email headed "Illegal deduction of wages and holiday pay" on 26 October 2018, and met Ms Guild on 29 October 2018. The tribunal found that the claimant then continued to be given a mix of local and long-distance work in line with the respondent's normal rota arrangements.

The tribunal held that the principal reason for dismissal was not the claimant's complaint about holiday pay. Applying s.104 ERA 1996, it found that the dismissal followed vehicle damage issues and the respondent's belief that the claimant had not completed the required paperwork for a Mitsubishi vehicle, with the disputed POD issue and related British Car Auctions correspondence occurring before the dismissal meeting on 21 November 2018. The claim for unfair dismissal therefore failed.

On holiday pay, the tribunal accepted that the claimant was due payment for six days' accrued but untaken holiday at termination. It compared the claimant's own calculation based on hours worked in the 12 weeks before dismissal with the respondent's payroll calculation taken from Brightpay. Because no payslips were produced to support the respondent's figures, the tribunal preferred the claimant's calculation and awarded the gross difference of £128.02, payable under deduction of tax and National Insurance.