THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

CASE REF:	 1684/13

CLAIMANT:		David Carmichael

RESPONDENTS:		1. Ballyclare Precast
		2. Megamix (1994) Ltd
		3. Department for Employment and Learning

DECISION 
The unanimous decision of the tribunal is that the third-named respondent is ordered to pay the claimant the sum of 6,271.40 as calculated at paragraph 7 of this decision.

Constitution of Tribunal:
Chairman (sitting alone):		Ms E McCaffrey

Appearances:
The claimant appeared in person. 

The first and second-named respondents did not appear and were not represented.  

The third-named respondent was represented by Mr Neil Cruikshanks of the Redundancy Payments Service.

1.	The claimant was employed initially by the first-named respondent from April 2000 until he was made redundant on 13 December 2012.  In that time the respondent company changed name on a number of occasions and his final employer was Mr Sudds Ltd which subsequently went into liquidation.

2.	The claimant was aged 44 at the date of his dismissal and received £271.69 gross, £233.19 (net) each week.  He was told by his manager Mr Ronnie McLaughlin in early December 2012 that the company was to close.  He worked one week of his notice and finished on or about 13 December 2012.  He had been told that Mr Ferris, the owner of the company, had indicated that he would deal with all paperwork regarding redundancy payments and notice pay.  The claimant accepted that this would take some time so took no action himself.  He did try to ring Mr Ferris on a number of occasions after he finished work but indicated that there was no replies to the calls.

3.	The claimant understood that the claim form in relation to his redundancy payment was being lodged by Mr Ferris’ accountants on his behalf.  He did not sign any forms but did provide his birth certificate at Mr McLaughlin’s request so that the claim could be lodged on his behalf.

4.	Subsequently the claimant received a letter from the Redundancy Payments Service refusing his application for payments on the basis that the claim was lodged outside the six month time-limit for a redundancy payment.

5.	Having considered this matter I am satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable for the claimant to lodge a claim for notice pay or holiday pay within the required time-limits under the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, as he understood that a claim had already been lodged on his behalf by his employer’s accountants.

6.	Equally I am satisfied that although the claimant had not lodged his claim for redundancy payment within the initial six month period required under Article 199 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, he did lodge his claim in the Industrial Tribunal on 18 September 2013.  This is within the six month immediately following the six month period for application for a redundancy payment and so falls within the extension under Article 199(2).  It appears to me to be just and equitable that the employee should receive a redundancy payment.

7.	Accordingly, I order the third-named respondent to pay to the claimant the following amounts:-

Redundancy payment

The claimant had 11 years’ service at the date of dismissal, three of which were over the age of 41.  He is entitled to a redundancy payment as follows:-

£271.69 x 12½ = 				£3,396.12

Notice pay

The claimant had worked for 11 years and worked one week of his statutory notice period.  He is therefore entitled to the following payment in lieu of notice .ie. 

£233.19 x 10 =				£2,331.90

Holiday pay

The claimant is entitled to two weeks holiday accrued but not taken as follows,

£271.69 x 2 =				£   543.38

Total						£6,271.40

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

Chairman:

Date and place of hearing:    9 January 2014, Belfast.		

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: