(sitting alone) Lesley McCleary v Andrea Galloway and 2 others — 2018

Lesley McCleary worked at Aromas from 22 August 1998 to 31 March 2018 across three ownership periods. The tribunal found that the business transferred under TUPE from DSG to ROP and then from ROP to the Respondent, that the claimant was assigned to the transferring undertaking, and that her continuity of employment was preserved. On that basis she had 19 years' continuous service and her normal weekly pay was £165 gross.

The unfair dismissal complaint was withdrawn by the claimant at the start of the final hearing and was dismissed. The tribunal recorded that the respondent had closed the business because of mounting debts and had given notice on 27 March 2018 that employment would end on 31 March 2018, but the unfair dismissal claim itself did not proceed to a substantive determination.

The tribunal upheld the breach of contract claim for failure to give statutory notice. Applying section 86 ERA 1996, it found the claimant was entitled to 12 weeks' notice, that she had received 4 days' notice, and that the balance of 11.43 weeks at £165 gross produced notice pay of £1,885.95 gross. The tribunal also upheld the statutory redundancy pay claim under sections 135 and 162 ERA 1996. It found the claimant was dismissed by reason of redundancy, had 4 years' service below age 41 and 15 years' service at or over age 41, and was therefore entitled to 26.5 weeks' redundancy pay, amounting to £4,372.50 gross.

The holiday pay claim failed. The tribunal found there was no collective or written agreement fixing the leave year, so for this employee it began on 1 October. By the termination date of 31 March 2018 she had accrued 2.8 weeks' leave but had taken 3 weeks during the leave year, so there was no accrued but untaken leave outstanding. The judgment ordered the two successful gross payments without deduction, with tax and national insurance to be accounted for by the claimant if due.