(sitting alone) Miss Adrienne Mackie v Represented by Mr F Lefevre Solicitor Parker & Sons Ltd — 2021

Miss Adrienne Mackie was employed by Parker & Sons Ltd from May 2018 and later worked as a weekday bartender after stepping down from the bar manager role. The Respondent closed during the first COVID-19 lockdown, reopened in August 2020, and after two shifts the Claimant was placed back on furlough. In September 2020 the Respondent decided it no longer needed the Claimant's weekday role and dismissed her by redundancy letter, without advance warning or consultation. The Tribunal accepted redundancy as the genuine reason for dismissal and rejected suggestions that the dismissal was connected to alleged health and safety concerns or a plan to dismiss her on her birthday.

Although the Respondent had a potentially fair reason, the Tribunal held the dismissal was unfair because there had been no consultation before dismissal. It found that any reasonable employer, even a small employer without dedicated HR support, should have warned and consulted before sending the dismissal letter. Applying the redundancy authorities, including the Burrell test and s.98(4) ERA, the Tribunal accepted that the Claimant's weekday pattern was unique but said it could not carry out a meaningful pooling analysis because there was no evidence about the skills or qualifications of the other bartenders. It concluded there was only a 20% chance the Claimant would have been dismissed in any event.

On remedy, the Tribunal said no basic award was due because the Claimant had already received a redundancy payment. It accepted past losses of £3,465.77, no future loss, and £150 for loss of employment rights, then applied the 20% Polkey reduction and a further 75% reduction for failure to mitigate because the Claimant did not apply for alternative work before April 2021. That produced a compensatory award of £723.15. Separately, because the Claimant had not been given written particulars of employment, the Tribunal awarded two weeks' pay, fixed at £255, rather than the four weeks claimed. The notice pay and holiday pay claims had been satisfied by the Respondent and withdrawn by the Claimant and were dismissed in the order.