Mr Scott Curtis v Sureserve Asset Services Ltd — 2024

Mr Scott Curtis was employed by Sureserve Asset Services Ltd from 22 April 2024 until his redundancy dismissal on 14 June 2024. The written contract dated 6 April 2024 contained a probationary period clause providing one week’s notice in the first month and one month’s notice thereafter during probation, a three-month general notice clause subject to probation, and a clause stating that variation was only effective if in writing and signed by the parties. The respondent’s 10 June 2024 redundancy letter referred to a payment in lieu of three months’ notice, but the 27 June 2024 email corrected that to one month.

On the notice-pay complaint, the tribunal rejected the claimant’s argument that he was entitled to three months’ notice or that the probationary notice provision did not apply to redundancy. It held that clause 19.1 was expressly subject to clause 3, that the claimant was within the probationary period at termination, and that his contractual entitlement was therefore one month’s notice or payment in lieu of one month’s salary. The tribunal also rejected the submission that the 10 June 2024 correspondence varied the contract, because clause 37 required a written variation signed by both parties and the communications were an error by the respondent, not a mutual variation.

On the car-allowance complaint, the tribunal held that clause 15 provided a vehicle allowance of £4,400 per annum for business purposes and did not create an entitlement to continue receiving that allowance for three years after employment ended. The claimant had received the allowance during employment and one month’s payment in lieu on termination, and the tribunal accepted the respondent’s submission that if the parties had intended the allowance obligation to continue after termination they would have said so. It therefore found no contractual entitlement to further car allowance and no unlawful deduction from wages. The judgment concluded that no monies were due to the claimant.