Mr C Watson v Coopers Fire Ltd: 1402617/2018
REASONS
The claimant failed to attend this hearing in which he pursues a claim of wrongful dismissal. The Tribunal waited 15 minutes after the time notified as the start of the hearing. In his absence, I considered the contents of his ET1, and heard evidence from the respondent’s Finance Director, who referred to a bundle of documents. The claimant was employed by the respondent as a warehouse operative from the 15th of May 2017, having earlier worked as an agency worker from March 2017. He was dismissed on the 18th of June 2018 on one weeks notice. At the time of the expiry of the notice period, he had taken 17 ½ days paid holiday (plus paid bank holidays) against an accrued entitlement from the 1st of January to the 30th of June 2018 of 12 days ( excluding bank holidays). The respondent deducted the overpayment of holiday entitlement in respect of five of the 5 ½ days holiday pay overpaid, thus extinguishing the claimant’s entitlement to pay in lieu of notice, which was recorded in the claimant’s final payslip dated the 29th of June 2018. It was a term incorporated into the contract of employment from the company handbook that “If the employee has taken more annual leave then he has earned, then a deduction will need to be made from final pay. This deduction is an approved deduction. Thus the claimant has no claim for unpaid notice pay.