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THE
INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS
CASE REF: 1243/08 IT
CLAIMANT: Maritta Quinn
RESPONDENT: Warehouse Direct (DIS)
Limited
DECISION
The
unanimous decision of the tribunal is that the claimant is entitled
to the total sum of £2125 compensation for the following
claims: redundancy pay, pay in lieu of notice and holiday pay.
Constitution
of Tribunal:
Chairman: Mrs
Ó Murray
Members: Mr
I Rosbotham
Mr
W Irwin
Appearances:
The
claimant was represented by her solicitor Mr Rafferty of John
McStravick Solicitors.
There
was no appearance by the respondent.
The
Claim
1. The
claimant’s claim was for breach of contract, redundancy
payment, unpaid holiday and pay in lieu of notice.
As
the respondent failed to lodge a response to the claimant’s
claim the case was listed for hearing on liability and remedy.
Sources
of Evidence
2. The
Tribunal had before it the claim form and heard evidence from the
claimant.
Preliminary
3. The
claimant clarified that the correct spelling of her forename is
Maritta. The tribunal therefore amended the title of these
proceedings from Marita Quinn to Maritta Quinn.
Facts
4. The
claimant was born on 23 June 1962 and was employed from October 1999
until 17 April 2008 by the respondent. Her net pay at the time of
termination of her employment was £125 per week. Her gross pay
was estimated by the tribunal to be £135 per week on the basis
of the payslip provided.
5. The
claimant received notice that she was being laid off because the shop
in which she worked was closing and her last day of work was 17 April
2008. The claimant worked two weeks’ notice.
6. The
holiday year in the respondent’s company ran from 1 April and
the claimant therefore left the respondent’s employ 17 days
into the holiday year. The claimant took no holidays between 1 April
and 17 April 2008.
7. The
claimant has received no payment in respect of redundancy pay from
the respondent and was paid only for the two weeks’ notice
which she worked before the termination of her employment.
The
Law
Redundancy
8. The
right to a redundancy payment is set out Article 170 of the
Employment Rights (NI) Order 1996 as amended (‘the ERO’).
Redundancy
is defined at Article 174 of ERO and includes the situation where an
employee is dismissed because her place of work is closing down.
Notice Pay
9. Article
118 of the ERO sets out the minimum statutory notice requirement
which is one week’s notice for each year of continuous
employment, if the employee has been employed for two years or more.
If a claimant believes that she has received less than the statutory
minimum notice her remedy is for breach of contract. The tribunal’s
jurisdiction for claims involving breach of contract is set out in
the Industrial Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction Order (NI) 1994.
10. Article
129 of the ERO sets out the calculation of the effective date of
termination (‘the EDT’). Where the termination of the
contract was by notice the EDT is the date on which that notice
expired.
Holiday Pay
11. The
Working Time Regulations (NI) 1998, as amended, set out the statutory
entitlement to paid holidays. In the claimant’s case her
entitlement was 24 working days per annum. Article 14(2) of the
Working Time Regulations outlines the employee’s rights to
payment in lieu of untaken holidays on termination of employment if
termination takes place part way through the holiday year. If an
employer fails to pay any holiday paid due under that provision the
employee can make a complaint under Article 30(5) and if the tribunal
finds that complaint to be well founded it must order the employer to
pay the employee the amount it finds to be due to him or her.
Conclusions
The
Tribunal finds that the claimant has clearly proved that she was
dismissed for redundancy. The claimant is therefore entitled to
redundancy pay set out in the following calculation.
The
claimant’s age at EDT: 45
Number
of full years during which the claimant was
not
below the age of 41: 4 x 1.5 weeks x £145 gross per week. =
£810
Number
of full years employment when the claimant was
not
below the age of 22: 4 weeks x £135 gross = £540
___________
Total = £1350
Notice Pay
13. The
claimant was entitled to statutory notice of 8 weeks’ net pay.
As she works two weeks’ notice the balance due to her is 6
weeks’ net pay as set out in the following calculation:
6
weeks x £125 net = £750.
Holiday Pay
14. The claimant left work 17 days
into the leave year and was therefore entitled to the 24 days leave
on a pro rata basis. The Tribunal has calculated that the claimant
is therefore entitled to 1 day’s leaves calculated as follows:
17
days ÷ 365 day x 24 days = 1.1 rounded down to 1 day
As
the claimant was paid £125 net per week she was entitled to £25
in respect of unpaid holidays.
Total
15. The
total compensation awarded therefore is as follows:
Redundancy
Payment £1350
Notice
Pay £750
Holiday
Pay £25
______
Total £2125
16. This is a relevant decision for
the purposes of the Industrial Tribunals (Interests) (NI) Order 1990.
Chairman:
Date
and place of hearing:
Date
decision recorded in register and issued to parties:
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