Mr A Haq v Irfan Qadir t/a Natural Balance — 2019

The tribunal found that Mr Qadir dismissed Mr Haq for conduct arising from the events of 16 May 2018, but held the dismissal unfair because the respondent did not carry out a reasonable investigation or follow a fair procedure. The invitation to the disciplinary hearing and the dismissal letter were sent to the wrong address, the claimant did not receive them, and the tribunal found there had been no proper follow-up when he did not attend. Applying section 98(4) ERA 1996 and the Burchell and Hitt authorities, the tribunal held that the respondent had a genuine belief and reasonable grounds, but its investigation fell outside the range of reasonable responses.

On remedy for unfair dismissal, the claimant had 17 full years' qualifying service and a gross weekly pay of £187.84, giving a basic award of £3,756.80 before reduction. The tribunal reduced the basic award to nil under section 122(2) ERA 1996 because it found that the claimant had behaved aggressively towards Mrs Irfan on 16 May and had removed the shop book and CCTV tapes. No compensatory award was made because the tribunal found he had already started his own business and any wage loss was attributable to that.

The unlawful deduction claim succeeded for unpaid wages and unpaid pension contributions, with an award of £2,417.48 made under that head. The tribunal calculated £2,270.96 for unpaid salary and £146.52 for pension contributions treated as an unlawful deduction from wages. The separate claim for failure to provide written particulars succeeded under section 38 of the Employment Act 2002 and attracted £369.23, while the holiday pay claim was dismissed because the claimant had already been paid during his April leave and had no further untaken entitlement. The total award was £2,786.71.