Claimant v Coffee at the Fells Ltd (SC715885) — 2024

Ms S McDonald worked part-time at the Fells Coffee House from around December 2019. After the business was sold to Coffee at the Fells Ltd in November 2021, the tribunal found that no written statement of employment particulars had been issued. By April 2024 Mrs Ledgerwood had recorded concerns about the claimant's shift changes, workplace behaviour, delegation and management style, and on 15 April 2024 she met the claimant to raise concerns from other staff and to say the team leader role should be removed.

The tribunal found that the claimant was dismissed on 16 April 2024 after a confrontation during which she swore at Mrs Ledgerwood and was described as hostile and disrespectful. Mrs Ledgerwood genuinely believed the claimant had made the comments relied on, but there was no disciplinary process, no investigation beyond the discussion itself, and no opportunity to appeal. The tribunal accepted that the respondent was entitled to treat conduct as the potentially fair reason for dismissal under section 98 ERA 1996, but held that a reasonable employer would have offered an appeal and that this was not an exceptional case where a disciplinary process would have been utterly futile, so the unfair dismissal claim succeeded.

For remedy on the unfair dismissal claim, the tribunal calculated a basic award of £1,408.80 and reduced it by 80% for contributory conduct to £281.76. It assessed the compensatory award by reference to two weeks' net pay of £615.78, reduced that by 80% to £123.16 on the basis that the dismissal would probably have occurred even with a fair process, then added a 25% ACAS uplift to £153.95, and then reduced that figure by 80% for contributory fault to £30.79. The total monetary award for unfair dismissal was therefore £312.55.

The tribunal did not make a separate award on the wrongful dismissal or notice claim, stating that account had been taken of it in the compensatory award. Separately, it held that the respondent was in breach of its duty to provide written particulars of employment and awarded the statutory minimum of two weeks' pay, £704.40, because no disadvantage to the claimant was shown and the higher four-week award was not justified.