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Industrial Tribunals Northern Ireland Decisions
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Industrial Tribunals Northern Ireland Decisions >> Gregg v Jim Crozier, t/a superdrive Mo... [2015] NIIT 01215_15IT (30 October 2015)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/cases/NIIT/2015/01215_15IT.html
Cite as: [2015] NIIT 01215_15IT, [2015] NIIT 1215_15IT
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THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS
CASE REF: 1215/15
CLAIMANT: Jeanette Gregg
RESPONDENT: Jim Crozier, t/a Superdrive Motorsports Centre
DECISION
1. The decision of the tribunal is that the claimant was dismissed and that dismissal was unfair. The claimant is therefore awarded compensation for unfair dismissal in the sum of £14,891.46.
2. The claimant is awarded the sum of £1,151.28 for failure to provide written terms and conditions of employment.
3. The claimant is awarded the sum of £5,105.00 for unpaid wages.
4. Total compensation therefore amounts to £21,147.74.
Constitution of Tribunal:
Employment Judge (sitting alone): Employment Judge Murray
Appearances:
The claimant was represented by Mr P Ferrity, Barrister-at-Law instructed by Gus Campbell Solicitors Ltd.
The respondent had not lodged a response form and did not appear and was not represented at the hearing.
REASONS
1. This claim proceeded as an undefended matter as the respondent did not lodge a response form.
2. The claimant’s claims were for constructive dismissal which she alleged was unfair; for unpaid wages and holiday pay; and for failure to provide written terms and conditions of employment.
3. The claimant gave evidence on her own behalf and provided documentary proof in the form of wages slips and a contemporaneous note of the unpaid wages.
4. I considered the claimant’s testimony and the documents produced and found the following facts and reached the following conclusions.
5. The claimant started full-time employment with the respondent on 6 April 2013 and earned £287.82 gross per week. Her net pay was £250.00 per week.
6. In July 2014 the respondent started to miss payments of the claimant’s pay. From that point he paid the claimant sporadically by giving her different sums in cash rather than paying her £250.00 per week into her bank account. At times the claimant went for two or three weeks without any payment at all.
7. The claimant kept in a notebook (which was produced at hearing) a note of payments received and payment owed during the period from July 2014 until she left on 8 April 2015. I am satisfied from the evidence that the sum owed for unpaid wages amounts to £5,105.00 net.
8. The claimant felt she had good reason to put up with this unsatisfactory situation until the last straw event occurred on 8 April 2015. On that date the claimant had returned to work following the Easter weekend and had asked the respondent for her pay. When she was told that he did not have her pay she said that she was leaving as she could not put up with that any longer. I am satisfied that the meeting with the respondent on 8 April 2015 constituted a last straw event in a series of events all of which amounted individually and collectively to a repudiatory breach of contract. The claimant was justified in resigning in response to the breach of contract and she was effectively forced to resign. In these circumstances her resignation on 8 April 2015 amounted to a dismissal which was also unfair.
9. The claimant has been in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance at the basic rate of £144.00 per fortnight from 26 April 2015.
10. Since her dismissal the claimant has received £318.00 net in total for three weeks’ part-time work as a cleaner and two days’ work over 12 July 2015 in a chip van.
11. The claimant had no written contract and was not provided with written terms and conditions of employment at any point. I therefore find that claim well-founded and award four weeks’ gross pay.
12. Mr Ferrity agreed that any claim for holiday pay was bound up with the claim for non-payment of wages. There was therefore no separate claim for a failure to pay holiday pay. There was no claim for failure to provide holiday entitlement.
13. The claimant gave evidence of her efforts which have resulted in the three weeks’ and two days’ work outlined above. Despite the claimant’s efforts she has not been able to find any other work and has been for several interviews and has several job applications in the pipeline. Mr Ferrity asked that future loss be calculated on the basis that it would take between six months and a year for the claimant to obtain employment. The claimant is clearly well motivated but has a back problem which meant that she could not continue with the cleaning job that she obtained. Taking account of these factors I have decided to award future loss of one year.
14. The calculation of compensation is therefore as follows:
(A) Unfair Dismissal
Effective date of termination: 8 April 2015
Claimant’s age at EDT: 56
Basic award:
Two years’ x 1½ weeks x £287.82 = £ 863.46
Compensatory award:
Loss from EDT 8 April 2015 to 8 October 2015
26 weeks’ x £250.00 = £ 6,500.00
Future loss: 8 October 2015 to 8 October 2016
£250.00 x 52 weeks = £13,000.00
________
£19,500.00
JSA received 26 April 2015 – 8 October 2015 at
£72.00 per week
24 weeks’ x £72.00 = £ 1,728.00
Future JSA: £72.00 x 52 weeks = £ 3,744.00
________
Deduct total benefits from compensatory award = £14,028.00
Add Basic Award = £ 863.46
________
Total Compensation for Unfair Dismissal = £14,891.46
(B) Failure to provide written terms and conditions of employment
Four weeks x £287.82 = £ 1,151.28
(C) Unpaid wages = £ 5,105.00
________
Total compensation (A + B + C) = £21,147.74
15. This is a relevant decision for the purposes of the Industrial Tribunals (Interest) Order (Northern Ireland) 1990.
Employment Judge:
Date and place of hearing: 1 October 2015, Belfast.
Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: