THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

CASE REF:	129/12

CLAIMANT:			Hamilton Patrick Morrison

RESPONDENT:		Vincent Cooney t/a Cooney Brothers

DECISION
The unanimous decision of the tribunal is that the claimant is entitled to notice pay of £2,773.08; unpaid wages of £231.09; holiday pay of £78.64; and a basic award for unfair dismissal of £6,210.00, totalling £9,292.81

Constitution of Tribunal:
Vice President:		Mr N Kelly
Members:			Mr R Black
				Mr B McCreight

Appearances:
The claimant appeared in person and was not represented.
The respondent appeared in person and was not represented.

1.	The claimant was employed from an unknown date in 1995 to 4 November 2011 as a plumber in the respondent’s business.

	He worked three days a week.  His gross weekly wage was £276.00 and his net weekly wage was £231.09.  He was aged 63 when his employment ended.

2.	The respondent is a building contractor who at one point had employed approximately 20 employees.  As a result of the general economic downturn, he had already reduced his workforce to himself, the claimant and an apprentice.  On 4 November 2011, the respondent told the claimant he had no more work for him.

3.	The claimant was owed one week’s wages at that point.  Those wages have not been paid.  He was not given notice or pay in lieu of notice.

4.	The claimant seeks compensation for unfair dismissal, a redundancy payment, holiday pay, notice pay and unpaid wages.

5.	This was a hearing which, unusually for this jurisdiction, was conducted entirely without rancour.  The respondent and the claimant agreed all the relevant evidence.

6.	The respondent was not aware of the requirements of the statutory dismissal procedure under the Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 and did not follow that procedure.  The dismissal was therefore automatically (technically) unfair.

7.	The tribunal has concluded that, given the downturn in work and the financial circumstances in which the respondent found himself, following the statutory dismissal procedure would not have made any difference to the decision to make the claimant redundant.  The compensatory award is therefore reduced by 100%.

8.	The claimant had 15 complete years’ service.  He was therefore entitled to 12 weeks’ statutory notice or pay in lieu of notice.  The claimant is therefore awarded 12 weeks’ net pay, totalling £2,773.08.

9.	The claimant is entitled to one week’s net pay as unpaid wages, amounting to £231.09.

10.	In the absence of any contractual leave year, the leave year, under the Working Time Regulations, is taken to commence on 1 October each year.  He was therefore at the time of his dismissal entitled to holiday pay calculated as follows:-

		35/365 x 28 (minimum annual leave) x 3/5 (pro rata) x £77.03 (daily rate) =
										£78.64

11.	The claimant is also entitled to a basic award in respect of unfair dismissal which is equivalent to a statutory redundancy payment, calculated as follows:-

		15 years’ complete service and age 63 produced a factor of 221/2 –

			221/2 x gross weekly wage - £276.00		=	£6,210.00

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

Vice President:

Date and place of hearing:	15 May 2012, Belfast

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: