Mr S J Taylor v Simple Digital Solutions Limited — 2021

Mr S J Taylor was employed by the respondent from 1 May 2015 to 31 July 2020. He contended that service with XLTEC Solutions Limited from 1 April 2014 should have counted towards his redundancy and notice entitlements. The tribunal found that there had been a relevant transfer from XLTEC to the respondent on 1 May 2015, after provisional liquidators had been appointed to XLTEC and after the customer contracts were assigned to the respondent. Because the transfer fell within Regulation 8(7) of TUPE, Regulation 4 did not operate to preserve XLTEC service for continuity purposes. The alternative argument that the companies were associated employers under sections 231 and 218(6) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 also failed because they were not under common control at the relevant time.

On that basis, the claim for further statutory redundancy pay, said to be £633, was dismissed, and the claim for an additional week's notice pay, said to be £442 gross, was also dismissed. The tribunal found that the respondent had used the correct date of 1 May 2015 when calculating the claimant's continuous service for July 2020 redundancy and notice purposes.

The tribunal did accept that the claimant should have been paid his salary for July 2020 at the furlough rate. It found that he remained employed until 31 July 2020 and that, because no notice period was being served during July, the failure to pay his July salary in full was an unlawful deduction from wages contrary to section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Using an annual salary of £23,000 and monthly gross pay of £1,916.67, the tribunal calculated the net amount due for the month at £1,348 and ordered the respondent to pay that sum.

The separate claim about the £200 previously deducted from pay for a parking-fines float failed. The tribunal found that the respondent had already repaid that sum in July 2020, as shown on the payslip, so no further amount was recoverable.