Mr M Ripley v Complete Automotive Aftermarket Solutions Ltd (In Creditors Voluntary Liquidation): 6001141/2024
JUDGMENT
Following the hearing of oral evidence from the claimant, the decision of the tribunal is that:(1) Complete Automotive Aftermarket Solutions Ltd (in creditors voluntary liquidation) is substituted for the name of the respondent set out in the claim form (‘Complete Steering’).(2) The claim for unpaid wages (s.23 Employment Rights Act 1996) succeeds in the sum of 5 weeks x £432 less £110 paid = £2050.(3) The claim for a ‘week in hand’ (Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) Order 1994) succeeds in the sum of £432.(4) The claim for notice pay (Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) Order 1994) succeeds in the sum of 3 x £432 = £1296.(5) The claim for redundancy pay (s.163 Employment Rights Act 1996) succeeds in the sum of 4.5 weeks x £432 = £1944.(6) The total award is for the sum of £5722. Tax and national insurance is likely to be deducted from payments (2) to (4) above.REASONS
[1]The respondent was not represented at today’s hearing, as anticipated, the respondent being in creditors’ voluntary liquidation.[2]The Judge discussed with the claimant the amounts that he was claiming. Following that discussion, sworn evidence was taken from the claimant to confirm the amounts due to him and the events leading up to the termination of his employment. The following findings of fact are made on the basis of that sworn evidence, on the balance of probabilities.[3]The claimant’s weekly wage for the respondent was £420 gross. His employer also contributed £12 per week towards his pension, giving a total gross weekly wage of £432.[4]When the claimant commenced employment for the respondent, in July 2020, he worked a week in hand. He did not receive his first week’s pay until he had been employed for two weeks. Therefore, on the termination of his employment, the claimant was entitled to be paid for this ‘week in hand’.[5]On 12 February 2024, the claimant was told by a director of the company, Jordan, that the company did not have any work for him and he was going to be ‘laid off’. The claimant was told that he would be paid £30 per day whilst he was ‘laid off’. To the best of the claimant’s knowledge, the respondent did not have a contractual right to lay him off. Given that lay-off arrangements are unusual, the Judge finds on the balance of probabilities that the respondent had no contractual right to lay-off in relation to the claimant.[6]The claimant was asked to telephone the company every Monday. The first Monday he tried on several occasions to speak to someone. Eventually, a director telephoned him back and told him that there was still no work and that he should continue to phone in on Mondays. The first week he was ‘laid off’, the claimant only received £70; the second week, he received £40. He did not receive any further payments from the respondent after that. The £110 he did receive stands to deducted from the arrears of pay due to him.[7]The claimant says he received a P45 about five or six weeks after he was told he was laid off. The P45 says the claimant’s employment was terminated on 16 February, but the claimant did not receive any notice that his employment had been terminated, until he received the P45. The Judge therefore concludes that the termination of employment did not in fact take place until the P45 was received. On the balance of probabilities, given the uncertainty as to the date it was received, the Judge concludes that the claimant’s employment terminated on around 17 March, five weeks after he was first laid off.[8]The claimant is entitled to statutory notice pay of three weeks, having been employed for three complete years of service by the date of dismissal. Three weeks times £432 gives a total of £1296 for notice pay.[9]The amounts due to the claimant for unpaid wages, and the week in hand, are set out in the Judgment section above.[10]At the date of dismissal, the claimant was aged 53. He is therefore entitled to one and a half week’s pay for each complete year of service, that is 4.5 weeks, times his gross weekly wage, including pension contributions, of £432 per week, a total of £1944.