THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

CASE REF:	1477/10

CLAIMANT:			Sara McKinty

RESPONDENT:		Sellick Partnership Northern Ireland Ltd

DECISION
The unanimous decision of the tribunal is that:-

(i)	the claimant was not unfairly dismissed by being unfairly selected for redundancy by the respondent company;

(ii)	the respondent company has made unauthorised deductions from the claimant’s wages in the sum of £1,739.00, and it is ordered that it do pay her the said amount;

(iii)	the claimant is entitled to the sum of £25,000.00 from the respondent company as a result of its breach of her contract of employment and it is further ordered that it do pay to her the said amount; and

(iv)	the claimant’s complaint under Article 13 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (right to be accompanied at a disciplinary or grievance hearing) is dismissed.

Constitution of Tribunal:
Chairman:		Mr Duncan Buchanan
Members:		Mr Aubrey Crawford
			Mrs Theresa Hughes

Appearances:
The claimant appeared in person and was not represented.
No representative appeared on behalf of the respondent company.

1.	(i)	The claimant, by a claim form presented on 2 June 2010, alleged that:-	

(i)	she had been unfairly dismissed by being unfairly selected for redundancy; 

(ii)	the respondent company had made unlawful deductions from her wages;

(iii)	it was in breach of contract, in respect of unpaid notice pay and expenses to which she was contractually entitled; and 

(iv)	that it had breached Article 12 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (right to be accompanied).

	(ii)	At the hearing we heard evidence from the claimant, and had regard to documentary evidence adduced by her.  There was no apperance by the respondent company.  It had received Notice of Hearing, and indeed members of its staff had been in contact with the Office of the Tribunals and indicated that no one from it would be attending.  The respondent company had previously been represented.  A full response had been received on its behalf, and we had regard to that.

We find the facts set out in the succeeding paragraphs.	
			
2.	(i)	The respondent company was a recruitment agency.  The claimant was the managing director of its Belfast Office at the time of her dismissal, and had worked for them from 5 January 2004 – 8 March 2010.  Her dismissal and her employee status have never been disputed by the respondent company, and she does not dispute that the business was in difficulty and there was a genuine redundancy situation.

The Belfast Office was closed on 27 January 2010, and all employees there lost their jobs.  The claimant was placed on ‘garden leave’ until her employment terminated.	
			
	(ii)	The claimant’s net pay was £4,952.00 per month, and she was also contractually entitled to certain expenses (here we are concerned with those for car parking and taxi fares).	
			
	(iii)	She was entitled to six months’ contractual notice.  This is not disputed by the respondent company who paid her one month’s notice pay.  It admitted not paying the balance.  According to the respondent company it could not afford to pay the balance.	
			
3.	(i)	We find that the claimant was not unfairly selected for redundancy.  She gave her evidence very honestly and could not identify any inherent unfairness in the selection procedure.  Indeed, everyone in Northern Ireland lost their job at the same time when the business closed.

We dismissed her claim for unfair dismissal.	
			
	(ii)	We find that in her salary for January 2010, there was a deduction of £1,739.00 from her wages.  We reject any suggestion that she may have agreed to this.	

	(iii)	(a)	We are satisfied that the respondent company is in breach of her contract of employment by failing to pay her the balance of five months’ notice pay and that this sum, totalling £24,760.00 (5 x £4,952.00), was outstanding on the termination of her employment.	
				
		(b)	A further sum of £526.44 (£466.64 in respect of unpaid parking fees and £60.00 in taxi fares) was also outstanding on termination of her employment.	
				
		(c)	The total amount outstanding was therefore £25,286.64.  This is subject to the statutory cap of £25,000.00 in respect of the tribunal’s contract jurisdiction.	

	(iv)	We dismiss the claimant’s claim in respect of the right to be accompanied as she accepted that she had not in fact made such a request.	

4.	We order that the respondent company do pay to the claimant the sum of £1,739.00 in respect of unlawful deductions from her wages, and the further sum of £25,000.00 in respect of its breach of her contract of employment.

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

Chairman:

Date and place of hearing:	8 December 2010, Belfast

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: