Mr J Peacock v NMW Estates Ltd — 2024

Mr J Peacock's employment was found to have started in May 2016, supported by a 2016 contract and a message referring to him having worked in the Worthing office for "7 years now". The tribunal rejected the respondent's position that employment only began in March 2022. It found that the employment transferred to NMW Estates Ltd on 23 December 2023 under TUPE. The respondent did not attend the 28 October 2024 hearing, and the tribunal proceeded under rule 47 on the evidence before it.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant was dismissed by letter dated 15 January 2024, which said the termination was due to the business's financial position. It found there had been no adequate or fair process: the claimant was not warned or consulted about redundancy and no alternatives were explored. On the evidence, redundancy was the most likely explanation for the dismissal, so the unfair dismissal complaint and the redundancy payment claim succeeded.

The tribunal also found that the claimant had not been paid in December after the transfer or in January before the dismissal took effect, and that he did not receive appropriate notice pay. It therefore upheld the unlawful deductions from wages complaint and treated the notice issue as a breach of contract claim. The complaint about unpaid holiday pay was not pursued and was dismissed upon withdrawal.

For remedy, the tribunal recorded a redundancy payment of £7,350, unlawful deductions of £1,955.85, and notice pay of £609.69. On unfair dismissal, it calculated a basic award of £7,350 but reduced that by the redundancy payment so that no basic award was payable; it awarded £700 for loss of statutory rights. The total award was £10,615.54. The claimant had secured new employment from 22 January 2024.