Industrial Tribunals Northern Ireland Decisions

THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

 

CASE REF:    840/11

      

CLAIMANT:                           Florence Liddy

 

RESPONDENT:                     Skill Northern Ireland

 

 

 

DECISION

 

The decision of the tribunal is to award the claimant a total of £360.00, in respect of a redundancy payment, holiday pay and notice pay.

 

 

Constitution of Tribunal:

 

Chairman  (sitting alone):     Mr W A Palmer

 

 

Appearances:

 

Neither party appeared: nor was either party represented.

 

 

1.       The respondent is a charity and a company limited by guarantee.

 

2.       Rule 27 (5) of the Industrial Tribunal Rules of Procedure (the Rules), which are contained in Schedule 1 to the Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005, provide as follows:

 

                    “If a party fails to attend or to be represented (for the purpose of conducting the party’s case at the hearing under Rule 26) at the time and place for such hearing, the tribunal may dismiss or dispose of the proceedings in the absence of that party or may adjourn the hearing to a later date.”

 

3.       The respondent, in the response to the claimant’s claim, stated that it did not intend to resist the claim.

 

4.       I have considered rule 27(5) of the Rules and have decided to dispose of the proceedings, on the basis of the information supplied by the parties.

 

5.       The claimant, who was born on 18 November 1956, was employed by the respondent from 1 May 2003 until 31 December 2010, as a Clerical Officer.  She worked for 3 hours per week and was paid £86.67 (gross and net) per month.  Her weekly wage was, therefore £20.00 per week.

 

6.       Although the claimant has indicated, at the appropriate place in the claim form, that the remedy sought is a redundancy payment, I hold, from reading the claim form as a whole, the response and the documentation provided, that the claim is also in respect of holiday pay and notice pay.

REDUNDANCY PAYMENT

 

7.       I am satisfied that the claimant was made redundant by the respondent.  Taking account of her age at the date of dismissal, her length of service and her
pre-dismissal earnings, I award the claimant £210.00 in respect of a redundancy payment.

 

 

HOLIDAY PAY

 

8.       There is a letter with the claim form from Messrs J L Grant, Chartered Certified Accountants, who were acting for the respondent.  In that letter it is indicated that the claimant was owed 3 days’ holiday, when her employment ended.  I am satisfied that it is likely that the claimants claim for holiday pay arises under the provisions of the Working Time Regulations.  I award her £60.00 in respect of holiday pay.

 

 

GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES

 

9.       I am satisfied, from reading her claim form, that the claimant did not raise the subject matters of her complaints with the respondent.  I follow the reasoning of His Honour Judge Peter Clark in Allen v Murdoch [2009] UKEAT/0361/09 and hold that redundancy and holiday claims flow from the dismissal and are, therefore, excluded from the statutory grievance procedures.  His Honour’s decision was based on the interpretation of the equivalent to Regulation 6(5) of the Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 (the Regulations) and the interpretation of “dismissed” in the Regulations.  Regulation 6(5) provides, insofar as relevant, “Neither of the grievance procedures applies where the employer has dismissed…….the employee.”

 

 

NOTICE PAY

 

10.     This is a contractual claim.  The tribunal has jurisdiction to determine this claim by virtue of the Industrial Tribunals (Extension of Jurisdiction) Order (Northern Ireland) 1994 (the Order).  In the claim form in reply to the question whether she worked, or was paid for, a period of notice, the claimant answered “No”.  However, in the response, the respondent states, “The organisation closed on 31 December 2010 and employees were issued with redundancy letters on 17 Dec 2010.  Employees were paid up to the closure of the business.” I am satisfied that it is likely that the claimant was paid for 2 weeks’ of notice, namely, from the 17 December 2010 to the 31 December 2010.  Under Article 118 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 she was entitled to 7 weeks’ notice of dismissal.  She is entitled to recover 5 weeks’ notice pay and I award her £100.00 in respect of that, but subject to the deduction referred to later.

 

11.     The notice pay claim is a breach of contract one.  As previously stated, the jurisdiction of this tribunal to determine the claim is conferred by the Order.  The Order is not one of the jurisdictions contained in Schedule 3 to the Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 (the Order of 2003).  Step 1 of the statutory grievance procedure, therefore, is not required to be taken.  However, regulation 6(1) (a) of the Regulations provides that the grievance procedures apply to jurisdictions listed in Schedule 2 to the Order of 2003.  One of the jurisdictions listed in that Schedule is the Order.  Therefore, the adjustment of awards provision, set out in Article 17 (2) of the Order of 2003, applies.  I reduce the notice pay award by 10% to £90.00.

 

          The awards are:-

 

 

12.     This is a relevant decision for the purposes of the Industrial Tribunals (Interest) Order (Northern Ireland) 1990.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chairman:

 

Date and place of hearing:       14 June 2011, Belfast.

 

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: