Mrs M Relly v Boydfield Garage — 2018

The claimant started work on 3 January 2018 as an apprentice mechanic. The tribunal found she was working under a Modern Apprenticeship scheme, attended college one day a week, was paid £40 per day, and had no written contract or written statement of main terms. At the hearing she withdrew her unfair dismissal and holiday pay deduction claims, and those claims were dismissed under Rule 52.

On the National Minimum Wage complaint, the tribunal accepted the respondent's case that Regulation 5 of the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015 applied because the claimant was engaged under the Modern Apprenticeship scheme and was within the first year of her employment with the respondent. It held that the apprenticeship rate of £3.70 per hour applied, and that the claimant's hourly pay exceeded that rate, so the complaint was dismissed.

The main factual dispute concerned whether the claimant had been dismissed on 25 April 2018. Having preferred the claimant's account where it was supported by an audio recording, the tribunal found there were no clear and unambiguous words of dismissal at that meeting and that the employment relationship was left continuing. It held that the claimant was only clearly told her employment had ended on 22 May 2018, when Nigel Bennett of Kilmarnock College informed her that the respondent did not want her to return.

For the breach of contract claim, the tribunal held that the claimant had normal working hours so section 221 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 applied, not section 224. It calculated a week's pay at £200. Applying regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations, it found that holiday pay due on termination was £448, so the £400 paid on 25 April 2018 was not in excess of the holiday entitlement and did not satisfy the respondent's notice liability. The tribunal therefore found the claimant had been dismissed without notice and ordered the respondent to pay £200 for breach of contract.