Ms C Wheeler v Chilworth Manor Limited t/a Best Western Chilworth Manor Hotel RECORD OF A PRELIMINARY HEARING — 2024

The Claimant, an HR Administrator employed part-time by Chilworth Manor Limited from September 2021 to January 2024, brought a claim of unfair dismissal after being made redundant. She accepted that the procedural steps of warning, consultation, fair selection and offer of redeployment had been followed, but contended that the redundancy was a sham and that the true reason for her dismissal was her earlier grievances against the General Manager and over pay.

Applying the three-stage test in Safeway Stores plc v Burrell (endorsed in Murray v Foyle Meats Ltd), Employment Judge Self found there was a genuine redundancy situation. The hotel owner had instructed a minimum payroll saving of £100,000 in response to the hotel being £259,200 behind budget and in special measures, and the Claimant's role had in practice been absorbed by the new Hotel Manager for some months before her dismissal. Several other staff were dismissed at around the same time, and the process was instigated at a level removed from anyone with prior involvement in the Claimant's grievances.

The tribunal was not satisfied evidentially that personal hostility arising from the Claimant's earlier complaints had influenced her selection, noting in particular that the Respondent had offered her alternative employment in Food and Beverage at the same salary, which she declined for career reasons. The judge observed in passing that, as a matter of good practice, Mr Skeet should not have heard the grievance appeal given his prior involvement, but that this was not a complaint raised by the Claimant. The dismissal was found to be wholly attributable to redundancy and the claim was dismissed.