THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

CASE REF:	1032/06

CLAIMANT:			Margaret Ward

RESPONDENT:		Ice Blue Retail Limited

DECISION

The unanimous decision of the tribunal is that by a default judgment dated 19 October 2006 the industrial tribunal declared that the claimant was unfairly dismissed by the respondent and that the claimant was entitled to compensation for the various heads of damage set out in that default judgment.  Accordingly, the tribunal unanimously decides that the claimant is entitled to receive the sums of £2,768.44 for unfair dismissal and £749.77 for the wages claims in Paragraph 7 and the respondent is ordered to pay these sums to the claimant.

Constitution of Tribunal:
Chairman:		Miss W.A. Crooke
Members:		Mr Hampton
			Ms Ley

Appearances:
The claimant appeared in person and represented herself.
The respondent did not appear, but by letter dated 2 August 2006 indicated that it would not contest the claimant’s claim.

1.	The tribunal found the following facts:-
A.	The claimant was employed as a Retail Assistant by the respondent from 26 July 2004 to 25 July 2006.  The claimant worked 24 hours per week and was paid £484.80 gross per month.  

B.	The claimant explained that for some time before the date of dismissal she had noticed that the stock in the outlet was going down very low and the manager of the outlet was constantly ringing Head Office in England asking for stock to be sent over.  For some time, the Head Office indicated that the stock would be arriving and that they should simply run down the old stock.  However on 25 July 2006 the Head Office telephoned the manager of the outlet and instructed her to close the shop with effect from 2.00 pm that day.  Effectively the whole workforce employed in that outlet were dismissed with effect from that day.  By a letter dated 2 August 2006 the respondent informed the claimant that there were insufficient assets to pay the money due to her and that they would not contest any industrial tribunal case that she chose to bring.  The tribunal finds accordingly that the claimant was unfairly dismissed as no proper process was followed in the matter of her dismissal from employment with the respondent.  

2.	Calculation of compensation

At the time of dismissal the claimant was 54 years of age and had two complete years of service with the respondent.  This entitles her to a multiplier of one and a half applied to her gross salary which was £111.87 per week, therefore the basic award due to the claimant is calculated as follows:-

		£111.87 x 11/2		=			£167.81

3.	Compensatory award

Immediate loss for the purposes of calculating the compensatory award the tribunal found that the gross weekly wage of the claimant was £111.87 and that her weekly deductions in respect of tax and NIC would be £4.76.  Therefore the tribunal finds that the net weekly wage of the claimant is £107.11.  

For a period of nine weeks the claimant had no employment and was in receipt of benefit from 25 July 2006 to 24 September 2006 when she started her new job.  Therefore the tribunal declares that she is entitled to compensation calculated as follows:-

		£107.11 x 9			=			£963.99

However, although the claimant was successful in obtaining alternative employment with Marks & Spencer on 24 September 2006 this was for a sixteen hour week and is temporary in nature.  As yet the claimant does not know whether or not she will be kept on with Marks & Spencer.  Therefore the tribunal considers that it is just and equitable to award her a continuing loss of £26.11 per week, being the difference between her net weekly salary with the respondent and her actual weekly net salary with Marks & Spencer:-

		£26.11 x 14			=			£365.54

4.	Future loss

The tribunal has considered that it is just and equitable to award the claimant compensation at her full net weekly wage formerly earned with the respondent, being £107.11.  The tribunal and indeed the claimant do not know whether she will be kept on with Marks & Spencer in January 2007.  To take account of this the tribunal is awarding the net weekly wage of £107.11 for ten weeks, which is the period in which the tribunal considers the claimant could be able to obtain an alternative means of employment.  

		£107.11 X 10			= 			£1071.10

Additionally, the tribunal considers that the claimant is entitled to a figure of £200.00 for loss of statutory rights.  

5.	Summary of unfair dismissal compensation

Basic Award

Basic award 								£  167.81

Immediate loss 							£  963.99

									£  365.54

Future loss								£1,071.10

Loss of statutory rights						£   200.00

Total unfair dismissal compensation				£2,768.44

6.	Additionally, the tribunal considers that the claimant is entitled to receive payment in lieu of notice in the sum of two weeks net weekly pay to reflect the fact that she has two years of service with the respondent and this is the figure of £214.22.  

The claimant is also entitled to receive one week’s holiday pay untaken at the date of the dismissal which is the sum of £107.11.  

The claimant said that she was not paid for the month of July 2006 and the tribunal awards her four weeks net pay being in total the sum of £428.44.

7.	Summary of additional compensation

Notice Pay		£214.22

Holiday Pay		£107.11

Arrears of pay	£428.44

	Total			£749.77

8.	Summary of total compensation due to the claimant

Unfair dismissal							£2,768.44

Wages claims							£  749.77

Total									£3,518.21

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

10.	Your attention is drawn to the Notice below which forms part of the decision of the tribunal.

Chairman:

Date and place of hearing:	13 December 2006, Belfast

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: