Industrial Tribunals Northern Ireland Decisions

THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

CASE REF: 7468/09         

CLAIMANT:            Herbert  William  McCaskie       

RESPONDENT:      Oma-Elite  Windows Ltd 

DECISION

The decision of the tribunal is that the claimant is entitled to receive Notice Pay of £2,440.32 from the respondent.

Constitution of Tribunal:

Chairman:              Mrs M Watson      

(sitting alone):      

Appearances:

The claimant was represented by Michael Roddy of Omagh Independent Advice Centre.

The respondent was represented by James Coyle, owner of the respondent company.

Issue

1.       The only issue for the tribunal was whether the claimant was entitled to receive a Notice Payment from the respondent and if so, how much?         

Decision

2.               The facts in this case were not in dispute. The claimant had been employed by Mr Coyle, owner of the respondent company, for 17 years as a Window Fabricator until he was made redundant on 14 September 2009.

3.       Mr Coyle had warned his employees in July that there was a severe reduction in work and that he would probably have to reduce the number of working days to 3 per week. There was a slight reprieve after the holiday period but in September he found it necessary to make his employees, including the claimant, redundant.

4.       The claimant was paid his statutory Redundancy Pay but not his Notice Pay. Mr Coyle refused to pay as he had nothing left after paying the redundancy money.

5.       The tribunal informed Mr Coyle that Article 118 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (as amended) provided that on termination of their employment, employees were entitled to receive one weeks notice for each year of their employment up to a limit of 12 weeks. The Order did not allow for refusal on grounds of lack of funds.

6.               The claimant was earning £203.36 net per week at the date of termination. He is therefore entitled to receive payment of £203.36 x 12 = £2,440.32 in lieu of notice.

7.       This is a relevant decision for the purposes of the Industrial Tribunals (Interest)           Order (NI) 1990.

Chairman:

Date and place of hearing: 15 March 2010, Omagh          

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: