Industrial Tribunals Northern Ireland Decisions

THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

 

CASE REF: 7253/09

 

 

 

CLAIMANT:                      Sarah Kathleen McGurl

 

 

RESPONDENT:                Belleek Cross Border Childcare Company Ltd

 

 

 

DECISION

The unanimous decision of the tribunal is that the claimant is entitled £1,040.40 to redundancy pay and to £693.60 for outstanding notice pay. The Tribunal orders the respondent to pay the claimant a total of £1,734.00 accordingly.

 

 

Constitution of Tribunal:

Chairman:              Ms P Sheils

Members:              Mr E Grant

                              Mr B Hanna

 

Appearances:

The claimant appeared and represented herself.

The respondent was represented by Geraldine Rogers, Secretary and Andrew Roohan, acting Chairperson of Belleek Cross Border Childcare Company Ltd.

 

The Claim and the Response

 

1.       The claimant, whose date of birth is the 26 October 1970, lodged a claim form on 14 October 2009, claiming breach of contract, redundancy payment and unauthorised deduction of wages. 

 

2.       The respondent did not present a response.

 

3.       At the hearing the respondent indicated that they did not wish to enter a late response.

 

Facts

 

4.       The Tribunal found the following facts proved on a balance of probabilities. 

 

5.       The claimant, whose date of birth is the 26 October 1970, commenced employment with the respondent in July 2003 as a child care assistant.  On 15 August 2009 the claimant was informed that her employment would cease on 28 August 2009. 

 

6.       The claimant was advised by the Board of Directors that her employment was ending because there were insufficient funds to pay her wages.  The claimant was paid until 28 August 2009 when her employment was terminated. 

 

7.       The claimant wrote to her employer on 24 August 2009 outlining her claims for notice pay and redundancy pay.  The claimant did not receive a response to this letter.  At the time of her dismissal the claimant had worked 6 full years of employment with the respondent and was not below the age of 22 for any of those years. 

 

8.       Clause 13 of the claimant’s contract of employment stated the following:-

 

“If you have 1 month continuous service you are entitled to receive 4 weeks notice in the event of termination.  This increases to 5 weeks after 5 years continuous service and then by a further week for each complete year continuous service up to a maximum of twelve weeks”.

 

9.       On the date the claimant was advised that her employment would cease, 17 August 2009, the claimant was entitled to receive 6 weeks notice.  In the event the claimant received only 2 weeks notice and claimed that she was entitled to a further 4 weeks notice. 

 

The Law

 

Breach of Contract

 

10.     The claimant’s contract clearly set out the notice period the claimant was to be given upon termination.  This period was four weeks notice, =£173.40 x 4 = £693.60

 

Redundancy

 

11.     The Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 also provides at Article 170 at paragraph 1, an employer shall pay a redundancy payment to any employee of his if the employee –

 

(a)        is dismissed by the employer by reason of redundancy or

(b)        is eligible for a redundancy payment by reason of being laid off or kept on short time.

 

12.     The calculation of the amount of a redundancy payment is set out at Article 197 of the same Order. In this case the claimant was not below the age of 22 for any of her 6 years service so her redundancy, calculated in line with the provisions of that Article = £173.40 x 1  x 6  = £1,040.40

 

The Tribunal’s conclusions

 

13.               The Tribunal concluded that the claimant had been made redundant by her employer and that she was entitled to Statutory Redundancy Payment in the sum of £1,040.40.

 

14.     The Tribunal also concluded that the claimant was entitled to Contractual Notice Pay of £693.60. 

 

15.     Accordingly the Tribunal orders the respondent to pay to the claimant the total sum of £1,734.00

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Chairman:

 

 

Date and place of hearing:         20 January 2010, Enniskillen.   

 

 

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: