(sitting alone) Mr D Bil v JD Coffee Scotland Ltd — 2019

The claimant started work for JD Coffee Scotland Ltd on or about 10 August 2018 as a Chef de Partie at the respondents' Dundee restaurant, paid £8.00 per hour and working on average 45 hours per week, giving weekly gross pay of £360. On 1 November 2018 he sent an email giving notice that he would leave with effect from 19 November. During the evening of 2 November, however, text messages from the Head Chef told him not to work his notice and that he would finish after that day. The tribunal found that the effective date of termination was 2 November 2018 and that he had been dismissed without notice.

The tribunal accepted the claimant's evidence as credible and reliable. It found that the respondents paid him for hours worked up to 2 November but did not pay any notice pay. Referring to section 86 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal held that he was entitled to one week's notice and awarded £360 as damages for breach of contract, calculated on the basis of his £360 weekly gross pay.

The claimant had also sought payment for accrued holiday on termination. The tribunal accepted his calculation, which used the government holiday pay calculator and his records from CAB assistance. It found that he had accrued 62 hours' holiday entitlement, from which 10.93 hours and 23.05 hours previously paid were deducted, leaving 28 hours. After a later payment for 7.68 hours, 20.32 hours remained outstanding. At £8.00 per hour, the tribunal awarded £162.56 under the Working Time Regulations 1998.

The unfair dismissal claim was not pursued at the hearing because the claimant accepted that he did not have sufficient qualifying service, and the judgment records that claim as dismissed following withdrawal.