THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

CASE REF:	1638/10

CLAIMANT:			Claire Espley

RESPONDENTS:		1.	Harleys Café Bar & Restaurant Ltd
2.	Kieran Bradley T/a Harley’s American Care Bar & Steakhouse 
				3.	Department for Employment & Learning
DECISION
The unanimous decision of the tribunal is that:-

(a)	the claimant is entitled to redundancy payment of £68.40; and

(b)	the claimant is entitled to holiday of £75.24.

Constitution of Tribunal:
Chairman:		Mr Patrick Kinney
Members:		Mr Ian Carroll
			Mr Robert Hanna

Appearances:
The claimant was represented by Ms Mercer, of the Law Centre (NI).
The first and second-named respondents did not appear and were not represented.
The third-named respondent was represented by Mr Cruikshanks of Department for Employment & Learning.

Facts

1.	The claimant was 19 years old at the date of termination of her employment.  She was employed by the second-named respondent, Kieran Bradley, from August 2007 until the date of the termination of her employment on 24 January 2010.  The claimant was dismissed by reason of redundancy.  The claimant’s hours of work varied on a weekly basis but she provided the tribunal details of 12 weeks’ wages to allow a weekly wage to be established.  She paid £4.83 per hour gross.

2.	The claimant contacted the company accountant who assisted her in filling in a RP1 form for the purposes of the third-named respondent.  The employer agreed the content of the form and, in particular, agreed the claimant’s holiday entitlement at 51/2 days.  The claimant subsequently sent grievance letters to the employer but obtained no response.  The claimant has never received a payment of the monies for redundancy or holiday pay.  

3.	After hearing the evidence of the claimant, the tribunal is satisfied her claims are well-founded and the tribunal makes the following awards:-

		Redundancy pay

The claimant is entitled to one week’s redundancy pay based on her gross weekly pay which the tribunal calculates to be £45.60.  The claimant is therefore entitled to £45.60 in respect of redundancy pay.  To this should be added the uplift under the provisions of Article 17 of the Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 under which the tribunal shall increase any compensation awarded by a figure of at least 10% and up to a maximum 50% if a statutory grievance procedure applies.  The procedure has not been completed and non-completion of the procedure is wholly or mainly attributable to failure by the employer.  In this case the statutory grievance procedure did apply and the tribunal finds that the non-completion of the procedure is attributable to failure by the employer.  In this case the tribunal finds that it is appropriate to uplift the compensation by 50% to reflect the failure by the employer to carry out any steps whatsoever to comply with the statutory procedure.  The total sum for redundancy pay, therefore, is £68.40.

Holiday pay

The claimant is entitled to 51/2 days’ holiday pay.  This is based on the claimant’s net weekly wage which the tribunal presumes is the same as the gross weekly wage in the circumstances of this case.  The claimant is therefore entitled to £50.16 holiday pay, together again with the uplift for failure to comply with the statutory grievance procedure making a total figure for holiday pay of £75.24.

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

Chairman:

Date and place of hearing:	26 November 2010, Belfast

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: