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Industrial Tribunals Northern Ireland Decisions
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Industrial Tribunals Northern Ireland Decisions >> Quinn v Warehouse Direct (DIS) Ltd [2009] NIIT 1243_08IT (28 May 2009)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/cases/NIIT/2009/1243_08.html
Cite as: [2009] NIIT 1243_08IT, [2009] NIIT 1243_8IT
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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: