(sitting alone) v Mary Odonnel UDC Services Limited and 1 other — 2018

The claimant worked as a domestic cleaner for UDC, initially for Jacqueline Ritchie t/a Upstairs Downstairs Cleaning, and continued after the business transferred to the respondent on or about 1 December 2010. The tribunal found that the business of providing domestic cleaning services in Lanarkshire transferred as an economic entity retaining its identity, so the claimant's continuity of employment was preserved under TUPE. On that basis, the claimant had 19 years of continuous service from 21 June 1999 to 22 June 2018, and her normal weekly pay for notice, redundancy and holiday calculations was £180 gross.

The tribunal upheld the claim for breach of contract based on failure to give statutory notice of termination. Applying the ERA 1996 notice provisions, it held that the claimant was entitled to 12 weeks' notice and therefore to £2,160 gross in notice pay. It also upheld the statutory redundancy pay claim, finding that the respondent's business was ceasing and that the dismissal was by reason of redundancy. Using the claimant's age and service, the tribunal calculated entitlement at 24 weeks' pay, producing a redundancy award of £4,320 gross.

The holiday pay claim failed. The tribunal accepted a leave year running from 5 April to 4 April and found that by the termination date of 22 June 2018 the claimant had accrued 1.2 weeks of leave but had already taken 2 weeks, so no accrued but untaken holiday remained payable. The tribunal therefore dismissed that claim. The judgment recorded that the sums awarded were to be paid without deduction, with the claimant to account for any tax and national insurance due.