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Industrial Tribunals Northern Ireland Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Industrial Tribunals Northern Ireland Decisions >> Buckley v Forward Learning [2012] NIIT 01298_11IT (08 February 2012) URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/cases/NIIT/2012/01298_11IT.html Cite as: [2012] NIIT 01298_11IT, [2012] NIIT 1298_11IT |
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THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS
CASE REF: 1298/11
CLAIMANT: Laura Buckley
RESPONDENT: Forward Learning
DECISION
The unanimous decision of the tribunal is that the claimant is:-
(a) entitled to a redundancy payment of £1,144.22;
(b) entitled to holiday pay of £209.72;
(c) entitled to notice pay of £1,048.60; and
(d) was unfairly dismissed and is entitled to compensation £3,886.55.
Constitution of Tribunal:
Chairman: Mr P Kinney
Members: Miss E Gilmartin
Mr J Foster
Appearances:
The claimant appeared in person and represented herself.
The respondent did not appear and had not filed a response.
Facts
1. The claimant was employed by the respondent from 16 October 2006 until her employment ended on 9 March 2011. The claimant’s age at the date of dismissal was 25. She had four years’ service with the respondent.
2. At the date of termination of the employment the claimant’s gross weekly wage was £326.92 and her net weekly wage was £262.15.
3. The claimant’s employment ceased when she was dismissed with immediate effect. No dismissal procedure whatsoever was followed by the respondent. The respondent has ceased trading but has not become insolvent within the terms of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.
4. The claimant makes claims for redundancy payment, holiday pay, notice pay and unfair dismissal. She seeks four days’ holiday pay. The claimant was on maternity leave and received statutory payment until 8 October 2011. The claimant makes no claim in relation to this period.
5. After hearing the evidence of the claimant, the tribunal is satisfied her claims are well-founded. The tribunal makes the following awards:-
(a) Redundancy pay
The claimant is entitled to 31/2 weeks’ pay based on her gross weekly wage. The claimant is therefore entitled to £1,144.22.
(b) Holiday pay
The claimant is entitled to four days’ holiday pay. This is based on her net weekly wage. The claimant is entitled to £209.72.
(c) Notice pay
The claimant is entitled to four weeks’ notice pay based on her net weekly wage. The claimant is therefore entitled to £1,048.60
(d) Unfair dismissal
Under the terms of Article 130A of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (‘the 1996 Order’) an employee is unfairly dismissed if one of the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures set out in the Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 applies in relation to the dismissal, that procedure has not been completed and the non-completion of the procedure is wholly or mainly attributable to failure by the employer to comply with these requirements. In this case the tribunal is satisfied that the employer has failed to comply with the requirements of the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures and the claimant’s dismissal is automatically unfair. The claimant is therefore entitled to a basic award of £1,307.68. To prevent duplication of award, however, from this figure should be deducted the redundancy payment of £1,144.22, leaving a basic award figure of £163.46.
(f) Compensatory award
In calculating the compensatory award the tribunal considered that an award of compensation should be made from the date of dismissal to the date of hearing. Taking into account the earnings of the claimant since the dismissal, and the award already made for notice pay, the total award for the compensatory figure is £2,359.35. To this should be added the claimant’s loss of statutory rights in a figure of £300.00, making a total compensatory award, before uplift, of £2,659.35.
Under the provisions of the Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 where an employer fails to follow the statutory dismissal procedure the tribunal should uplift the amount of a compensatory award by at least 10% and up to a maximum of 50%. In this case the claimant was given no advance warning of the impending closure of the business. The tribunal considered the appropriate uplift is 40%. This resulted in a total compensatory award, including uplift, of £3,723.09. The total award for unfair dismissal is, therefore, £3,886.55.
6. This is a relevant decision for the purposes of the Industrial Tribunals (Interest) Order (Northern Ireland) 1990.
Chairman:
Date and place of hearing: 4 January 2012, Belfast
Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties:
