Miss A Lee v Stretford Swim School Ltd: 6037159/2025 Miss A Lee v Stretford Swim School Ltd: 6037159/2025
JUDGMENT
(1) The complaint of breach of contract in relation to notice pay is well-founded.(2) The respondent shall pay the claimant £1215.00 (One Thousand Two Hundred and Fifteen Pounds only) as damages for breach of contract.REASONS
[1]The claimant attended the final hearing with her partner, which was held remotely at 14:15pm in the Liverpool Employment Tribunal before me, Judge Johnson. I was content that the proceedings had been sent to the respondent, together with joining details for this CVP hearing. During the morning, the Tribunal clerk supporting this case left a message on the respondent’s business phone number to remind them of the hearing today. The phone went to voicemail and a message was left. No response has been received.[2]The claimant had difficulties joining the remote hearing, so the start time was delayed until 14:31pm. Consequently, I was satisfied that the respondent had ample opportunity to join the hearing and had for whatever reason, decided not to attend. I concluded that it was in the interests of justice to proceed with the final hearing in their absence.[3]The claimant had provided an electronic bundle of documents of 33 pages in length for use at the hearing today. It consisted of her contract of her employment with the respondent including details of her pay, hours and notice period, various emails and letters relating to the termination of employment and details of pay.[4]The claimant also gave evidence under oath, and I questioned her about her employment history and made my findings on the evidential test of ‘balance of probabilities’, meaning the mostly likely facts that could be identified from the available written and oral evidence. The respondent of course chose not to attend the hearing and forfeited their right to cross examine the claimant. However, applying the overriding objective and recognising that the claimant must prove her case, I subjected her to a lengthy examination under oath before deliberating and reaching my judgment.[5]Turning to the findings of fact, the claimant worked from 14 October 2024 for the respondent’s predecessor company Little Angels Swim School Limited in an admin role. Little Angels was a separate company under Companies House registered number 08340265. This is a separate company from the respondent whose Companies House number is 16082598. However, Linda Cooper was appointed as director of both companies and continues to hold this position with both. However, Little Angels is in liquidation as of 16 September 2025. The respondent Stretford Swim School Limited was incorporated on 15 November 2024.[6]I accepted that the claimant was informed that Little Angels was changing its name in December 2024 and she would be working for the respondent named company as an assistant manager. The claimant had a vague recollection of there possibly being two different companies but moved from Little Angels to Stretford Swim School on 19 December 2024. She says there was no noticeable break in employment, and her duties appear to remain the same regardless of the job title change.[7]The claimant signed a contract of employment with the respondent on 20 December 2024 confirming her employment with the respondent from 19 December 2024 and which was signed on that date by her line manager Scott Sinclair. Despite Ms Cooper’s later assertion to the claimant that Mr Sinclair had no authority to enter into this contract, I concluded that the contract was validly created and the claimant had no reason that Mr Sinclair could not sign on behalf of the company.[8]Given that this claim solely related to notice pay with the respondent, I did not need to consider questions of continuity of terms and conditions arising from the claimant’s previous employment with Little Angels. The respondent’s contract asserted in clause 3.1 that continuous employment began from 19 December 2024 and no other period of employment counts towards that period. Potentially, the claimant could have asserted that the provisions of the TUPE Regulations 2006 applied with regard to the transfer of employment from Little Angels to Stretford Swim School. However, she chose not to and the only available contract of employment before me was with the respondent. In any event, the emails exchanged between the claimant and Ms Cooper relating to the earlier Little Angels contract (which Ms Cooper believed to be ‘nul and void’), suggest the same notice period terms applied.[9]In conclusion, the claimant was therefore required to work 30 hours per week at £13.50 per hour. In terms of notice pay, she worked for more than 1 month but ended her employment having worked less than 2 years continuously with the respondent at the date of termination. She was therefore entitled to 4 weeks’ notice pay and was required to give 4 weeks’ notice in accordance with clause 3.2.[10]The claimant gave notice in writing of her resignation on 13 July 2025. She calculated that 4 weeks’ notice gave a date of termination of 11 August 2025.[11]Ms Cooper responded on 14 July 2025 and told her that she need only work 1 weeks’ notice and her dated of termination would be 18 July 2025.[12]The claimant was willing to accept the shorter notice period but when replying to Ms Cooper by a further message asserted that she would be entitled to her full 4 weeks’ notice pay in any event.[13]There then followed an exchange of further messages between the claimant and Ms Cooper and the claimant was only paid 1 weeks’ notice pay by the respondent.[14]I concluded that the claimant was therefore not paid the 3 weeks balance of her 4 weeks’ notice pay upon the termination of her employment and the respondent is in breach of its contractual obligation to pay this amount.[15]The claim was properly presented in time with the date of termination being 18 July 2025, early conciliation with ACAS began on 18 August 2025 and ended on 29 September 2025. The claim form was presented on 8 October 2025.[16]Consequently, the claim for notice pay is well founded and the respondent must pay the claimant the balance of her notice pay, being 3 weeks pay, calculated at 30 hours per week at an hourly rate of £13.50. This means that the respondent must pay the claimant the sum of £1215.00 in full and final settlement of her successful breach of contract claim and in respect of the notice pay remaining owing to her.