THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

CASE REF:    220/11

CLAIMANT:	Gene Cislikauskiene

RESPONDENT:	Miriam Cunningham t/a Cunningham’s Coffee Shop

DECISION

The unanimous decision of the tribunal is that the claimant's claims are well-founded and the claimant is entitled to a redundancy payment of £2,362.50, £1,270.00 in respect of pay in lieu of notice and £203.11 in respect of holiday pay, totalling the sum of £3,835.61.  The tribunal Orders the respondent to pay to the claimant the foregoing amount of £3,835.61.

Constitution of Tribunal:

Chairman:	Mr J V Leonard

Members:	Mr J Martin
	Mr J Hall

Appearances:

The claimant was present and was represented by Mr Barrie McLatchie of Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre. 

The respondent was present at the outset of the hearing but had not entered a response to the claimant’s claim.  After having indicated that she was not intending to resist any part of the claimant's claim, the respondent then left the tribunal proceedings.

The Claim

1.	The claimant claimed redundancy pay, notice pay and holiday pay.

The Issues

2.	The issues for the tribunal to determine were:-

         (i)	Was the claimant entitled to a redundancy payment?

(ii)	Was the claimant entitled to a payment in lieu of notice?

(iii)	Was the claimant entitled to holiday pay?

The Evidence

3.	The tribunal heard evidence from the claimant who was assisted by an interpreter throughout the proceedings as the claimant is Lithuanian and the claimant's command of written and spoken English properly necessitated the use of an interpreter to assist in the proper presentation and comprehension of the proceedings.  The tribunal also considered the claim form and the other documentation adduced in evidence.

Findings of Fact

4.	On the balance of probabilities the tribunal determined the following material findings of fact:-

4.1	The claimant’s date of birth is 6 January 1961.  The claimant commenced working for the respondent on 19 May 2005 and the employment came to an end on 17 September 2010, the latter date being the effective date of termination of employment.  At that latter date the claimant was aged 49 years and her length of service was 5 years. On the date of termination of employment the respondent effectively ceased to conduct business and any employees were dismissed.

4.2	The claimant worked 45 hours each week.   The claimant's gross weekly wage was £315.00 and the net weekly wage was £254.00. 

4.3	The tribunal is satisfied that the claimant was dismissed on account of the foregoing circumstances.

The Law

5.   	The tribunal considered the relevant provisions of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 together with the relevant provisions of the Industrial Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction Order (Northern Ireland) 1994 in relation to breach of contract (notice pay).

Conclusions

6.   	In consequence of the tribunal’s findings of fact and the application of the relevant statutory provisions and of the law generally, the tribunal’s determination is as follows:-

6.1	The claimant was dismissed on grounds of redundancy and thus the claimant is entitled to a redundancy payment calculated as follows:-

On the termination of her employment the claimant had 5 completed years’ service and the claimant was aged 49 years.  The gross weekly wage was £315.00 per week.

The appropriate multiplier for calculating the claimant's redundancy payment under these circumstances is 7.5. There was no redundancy payment made by the respondent.  The redundancy pay due to the claimant is therefore 7.5 x £315.00 = £2,362.50.

6.2	The claimant, on account of her length of service with the respondent, is entitled to 5 weeks’ pay in lieu of notice at £254.00 per week.  There was no payment in lieu of notice made to the claimant by the respondent.  This amounts to £1,270.00.

6.3	The claimant at the date of termination was entitled to paid leave of 4 days.  This was unpaid by the respondent to the claimant.  This amounts to £203.11.

7.	The total amount to be paid by the respondent is therefore £3,835.61.  The tribunal finds the claimant's claims to be well-founded and the tribunal Orders the respondent to pay to the claimant the said sum of £3,835.61.

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

Chairman:

Date and place of hearing:     14 June 2011, Belfast.

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: