THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS 

CASE REF:	258/06

CLAIMANT:	Mark McMeekin

RESPONDENT:	Walter Berry t/a MPI

DECISION

The unanimous decision of the tribunal is that:-

The claimant is entitled to a redundancy payment, pay in lieu of notice and holiday pay.  The Tribunal orders the respondent to pay the claimant the sum of £1,516.45.

Constitution of Tribunal:

Chairman:		Miss E M McCaffrey
Panel Members:	Mr J McAuley
			Mr D Walls

Appearances:

The claimant appeared in person.

The respondent did not appear and was not represented.

FACTS:

1.	The claimant had been employed by the respondent at various times and for various periods of time, most recently from September 2003 until the closure of the respondent’s business on 8 November 2005.

2.	The claimant’s gross pay was £250.00 per week, net pay £203.29 per week.

3.	The claimant had been laid off by Mr Atkinson of the respondent firm for “a few days” and when he rang to inquire about starting back to work, he was told by Mr Atkinson that they would not be starting back to work, that Mr Berry had taken money from the business and disappeared.  The claimant believed the respondent’s business was insolvent.

4.	The claimant had not taken any holiday, he advised that he usually received 2 weeks’ holiday in the year.  He had had Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and 12 and 13 July off in the previous year.

THE LAW:

The relevant law is to be found in the Employment Rights (NI) Order 1996 and in the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 (as amended).

Articles 170 and 171 set out the right to a redundancy payment and Article 197 sets out the method of calculation.  At the time when the claimant was dismissed, he was aged 30 and had 2 complete years’ service, so he was entitled to 2 weeks’ pay as a redundancy payment.

Article 118 of the 1996 Order sets out the entitlement of an employee to notice if they are to be dismissed.  The notice should be not less than 1 week’s notice for each year of continuous employment where the employee had been employed for more than 2 years, or less than 12 years, in this case, 2 weeks.  Where employee has not had the opportunity to work out his notice, as in this case, he is entitled to receive pay in lieu of notice.

Regulations 13 and 14 of the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 provide that an employee is entitled to 4 weeks (20 days) paid leave per year.  If his employment is terminated in the course of a leave year, the employee is entitled to a payment in compensation for unused leave in proportion to the proportion of the year he has worked. 

DECISION:

The unanimous decision of the Tribunal is that the claimant was dismissed by reason of redundancy and that he was entitled to receive 2 weeks’ gross pay as a redundancy payment, 2 weeks’ net pay by way of notice pay and holiday pay equal to 15 days’ net pay. He had taken only five days off in the preceding 12 months.  The Tribunal therefore orders the respondent to pay the following amounts to the claimant:

Redundancy pay:	2 weeks’ gross pay	£250.00 x 2	=	£500.00
Pay in lieu of notice:	2 weeks’ net pay	£203.29 x 2	=	£406.58
Holiday pay:	15 days’ (3 weeks’) net pay	£203.29 x 3	=	   £609.87
TOTAL:				£1,516.45

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

Chairman:

Date and place of hearing: 3 July 2006, Belfast

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: