THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

CASE REF:	1929/10

CLAIMANT:			Paul McLaughlin

RESPONDENT:		Thomas McCartney

DECISION 
The claimant’s claim in respect of notice pay is well-founded and it is ordered that the respondent shall pay to the claimant the sum of £3,180 in respect of notice pay.

Constitution of Tribunal:
Chairman (sitting alone):		Mr Paul Buggy

Appearances:
The claimant was self-represented.

There was no appearance on behalf of the respondent.

REASONS

1.	The claimant is one of a group of former employees of the respondent who are making notice pay claims.  That group of claimants consists of the following:

(1)	Richard McErlean
(2)	Martin King
(3)	Joseph Quinn
(4)	Paul McLaughlin
(5)	Terence Stewart
(6)	Owen Monaghan

2.	All of that group of claimants, with the exception of Mr Monaghan, were present at this hearing.  All those (claimants) who were present gave evidence in this case.

3.	At the end of the hearing of this case, I announced my decision.  I also gave oral reasons, at that time, for this decision.  Accordingly, what follows is by way of summary only.

4.	On the basis of the oral testimony which I received, and on the basis of the documentary evidence, I was satisfied as to the following.

5.	This claimant was employed by the respondent, and was dismissed with effect from 21 April 2010.

6.	I am satisfied that this claimant was dismissed by reason of redundancy and that no notice, or notice pay, was given to the claimant.

7.	Although the respondent had, some months earlier, provided the claimant with notification of a potential dismissal, that notification was not current by the time of the claimant’s actual dismissal. (The notifications of dismissal, which I have seen, and which were provided by the respondent to the Department for Employment and Learning, all have expiry dates in January 2010 or earlier).

8.	I am satisfied that this claimant was entitled to notice of dismissal, or to pay in lieu of notice, and that this claimant received no such notice.  I am satisfied that, as a result of that lack of notice, the claimant’s net loss (based on the claimant’s net pay while in the respondent’s employment, minus the amount of any post-dismissal earnings during the notice period, and minus also the amount of any social security benefits received, or receivable, by the claimant during the notice period) was as specified above.

9.	The claimant told me that he had not been in employment of any kind during the notice period, but did not claim Job Seeker’s Allowance.  I consider that, in the circumstances, I am obliged to deduct a notional figure of £65 (in respect of JSA which was available, but which was unclaimed), in respect of every week of the notice period.

10.	During this hearing I told the claimants that I would check my calculations after the hearing and that, if I had made any mistake, any such mistake would be corrected in the written Decision. Unfortunately, I did make a calculations mistake, for which I apologise.  I am now correcting that mistake, which was as follows.

11.	During the hearing, I told the parties that I was minded to award the sum of £3,445 in respect of notice pay.  However, that was on the basis that that the claimant seemed to be entitled to 13 weeks notice pay.

12.	I have since realised that he is only entitled to 12 weeks notice pay.  Therefore, I have now awarded only £3,180 (which is approximately twelve-thirteenths of £3,445) in respect of notice pay.

13.	The claimant was employed by the respondent for 13 complete years, but he is only entitled to 12 weeks notice pay because of the effect of paragraph (1)(c) of Article 118 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.  That paragraph provides that the notice required to be given in respect of an employee:

“is not less than twelve weeks’ notice if his period of continuous employment is twelve years or more”. [My emphasis]

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

Chairman:

Date and place of hearing:	22 March 2011, Belfast.	

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: