Tinnion Mr. Darren Amers v ,15 Advocate DR Collin & Son. Ltd. — 2021

Mr Darren Amers was employed by DR Collin & Son Ltd from 1 May 2017 and was promoted in 2019 to Cold Store Manager at Site #4. After a workplace accident in 2018 and a later personal injury claim, the tribunal found that by July 2020 the parties were dealing with the impact of the Covid-19 downturn on the respondent's cold store business. On 9 July 2020 the respondent decided to terminate his post, and on 10 July 2020 he was told there was no longer a position for him in the Cold Store and was offered a lower-paid role at Site #2.

The tribunal held that Mr Amers was dismissed by the respondent, with the dismissal taking effect on 14 July 2020 when he said he would not accept the alternative Site #2 role. It rejected the respondent's case that he had ended his own employment, and found that the sole reason for dismissal was genuine redundancy. The tribunal rejected Mr Amers' contention that the workplace accident, the personal injury claim, or complaints about toilet facilities and pigeon droppings were the reason for dismissal.

The unfair dismissal claim succeeded because the respondent gave no prior warning or consultation, did not establish a redundancy pool or apply selection criteria, and did not offer any appeal. The tribunal found the respondent acted unfairly and outside the band of reasonable responses, and it also found there was a 50% chance Mr Amers would have been fairly dismissed even if a fair redundancy procedure had been followed. The ACAS uplift was refused because the tribunal held the disciplinary and grievance code did not apply to the redundancy situation.

The wrongful dismissal claim also succeeded. The tribunal found that Mr Amers was entitled to three weeks' notice, that no notice was given, and that no notice pay was paid. In the schedule, the tribunal awarded a basic award of £2,163.46 and a compensatory award of £10,856.54 for unfair dismissal, a wrongful dismissal award of £1,298.76, and applied a £3,884.40 credit for Job Seekers Allowance, producing a total compensation figure of £10,434.36.