Freely Available British and Irish Public Legal Information
[Home] [Databases] [World Law] [Multidatabase Search] [Help] [Feedback]
Industrial Tribunals Northern Ireland Decisions
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Industrial Tribunals Northern Ireland Decisions >> Doherty v Abel Electrical and Security S... [2014] NIIT 838_14IT (01 August 2014)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/cases/NIIT/2014/838_14IT.html
Cite as: [2014] NIIT 838_14IT
[New search] [Printable RTF version] [Help]
THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS
CASE REF: 838/14
CLAIMANT: Ronan Doherty
RESPONDENT: Abel Electrical and Security Services Ltd
DECISION
(A) The claimant’s holiday pay claim is time-barred and accordingly must be dismissed. (But see paragraph 4 below).
(B) The claimant’s claim for notice pay is not well-founded and accordingly it is dismissed.
(C) The claimant’s redundancy pay claim against the respondent is well-founded and it is declared that the respondent is liable to make a redundancy payment of £2,520 to the claimant.
Constitution of Tribunal:
Employment Judge (sitting alone): Employment Judge Buggy
Appearances:
The claimant was self-represented.
The respondent was debarred from participating in the hearing because the respondent did not present a response within the relevant time-limit.
REASONS
1. The claimant was employed by the respondent and was made redundant on 4 October 2013.
2. I regarded the claimant as an honest witness. In the spring of 2005, the claimant ceased to work for the respondent, for a period of about three months. He did not receive a redundancy payment at that time. He claimed Jobseekers Allowance at that time, but did not work for anybody else at that time. After the three months, he began working for the respondent again, because the respondent’s business situation had by then improved. I am satisfied that the 2005 period was a “temporary cessation of work”, within the meaning of the redundancy payments legislation.
3. I was satisfied that the claimant made a written demand for payment of his redundancy pay, by writing to Mr Brian Abel, in Mr Abel’s capacity as the person running the business for the employing Company, in a letter dated 9 January 2014.
4. These proceedings were not begun until May 2014. I was not satisfied that it was not practicable for the claimant to bring his holiday pay claim within the primary limitation period (of three months). Accordingly, in the industrial tribunals, the claimant’s holiday pay claim is time-barred. However, he should note that he is still well within time to bring a holiday pay claim in the County Court.
5. At the time of the termination of his employment, the claimant had an entitlement to five days of untaken holiday leave.
6. The claimant was entitled to many weeks’ notice of the termination of his employment, and he did not receive that notice. However, that lack of notice has not caused any financial loss. For that reason, his notice pay claim fails.
7. This Decision is based on the following information:
Gross weekly pay £180
Net weekly pay N/A
Number of actual completed years of service 17
Age on date of dismissal 33
Multiplier for redundancy pay 14
8. This is a relevant decision for the purposes of the Industrial Tribunals (Interest) Order (Northern Ireland) 1990.
Employment Judge:
Date and place of hearing: 25 June 2014, Belfast.
Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: