(sitting alone)10 Mr M Bentley v – Solicitor No Ordinary Designer Label Limited t/a Ted Baker — 2021

Mr M Bentley was employed by No Ordinary Designer Label Limited t/a Ted Baker as Head of European Retail. He was dismissed with effect from 30 July 2020 and was paid in lieu of three months' notice. In his ET1 and at the hearing, he accepted that the dismissal was for redundancy, which is a potentially fair reason for dismissal, but he challenged the fairness of the process, including consultation and the handling of suitable alternative employment.

The respondent did not defend the claim and led no evidence. The tribunal therefore accepted the claimant's account and found the dismissal to have been unfair. The judgment records that the claimant had decided not to apply for an alternative position with the respondent because he no longer had trust that the respondent would manage the process fairly.

On remedy, the tribunal held that no basic award was payable because the claimant had conceded redundancy and had received the correct statutory redundancy payment. For compensatory loss, it found that the claimant had received no employment income since dismissal and had received Jobseeker's Allowance of £1,933.10. The tribunal accepted past loss of £33,125 from 1 November 2020 to the hearing date and added a further 10 weeks' future loss of £16,102, giving a net compensatory figure of £49,227.20.

Because the award exceeded £30,000, the tribunal grossed it up under section 401 ITEPA 2003. It calculated the additional tax gross-up as £1,632, producing a total compensatory award of £50,859. The Employment Protection (Recoupment of Jobseeker's Allowance and Income Support) Regulations 1996 applied; the prescribed element was £33,125 for the period from 1 November 2020 to 25 March 2021, and the balance above that figure was £17,734.