THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

CASE REF:	241/12

CLAIMANT:			Mervyn John Lyle

RESPONDENT:		Robert Stothers & Sons Ltd

DECISION
The unanimous decision of the tribunal is that the claimant was automatically unfairly dismissed on the ground of redundancy.  He is therefore entitled to a basic unfair dismissal award which equates to the statutory redundancy payment of £10,221.31.  He is also entitled to statutory notice pay of £3,668.52, payment in respect of unpaid wages of £836.67 and payment in respect of an unauthorised deduction of £272.19.

Constitution of Tribunal:
Vice President:		Mr N Kelly
Members:			Mr R Hanna
				Ms M Mulligan

Appearances:
The claimant was represented by Mr M Kiddle, of UCATT.  
The claimant appeared and was assisted by two sign language specialists, Ms Janet Beck and Mr James Baillie.
The respondent did not enter a response and did not attend.

Findings of fact

1.	The claimant, who was profoundly deaf, had worked for the respondent company as a carpenter from 30 January 1984 to 14 September 2011.  He was 54 years of age on the date of dismissal.  His gross weekly wage was £385.71.  His net weekly wage was £305.71.

2.	The respondent company was a very small operation.  Mr Stothers (Senior) died suddenly and the business operation of the respondent company ceased immediately.  The claimant was told that his employment had ceased on 14 September 2011 by Mr Stothers (Junior) because there was no work available.

3.	The respondent company did not comply with the statutory dismissal procedure and did not conduct any redundancy consultation exercise.

4.	The claimant, at the time of dismissal, was due the following payments of wages, which were not paid:-

		29 August 2011 – 2 September 2011		=		£  385.71 Gross

		5 September 2011 – 9 September 2011		=		£  385.71 Gross

		12 September 2011 – 14 September 2011	=		£  247.25 Gross

		Total due (gross)					=		£1,018.67 

		Total due (net)					=		£  836.67

5.	The claimant also claimed £272.19 which was an unauthorised deduction from the wages due for the week 6 June 2011 – 10 June 2011.  The claim was lodged on 30 January 2011 and this was an isolated incident.  This raised a potential issue of time-limitation.  The tribunal considered and granted an application to extend time on the basis that it had not been reasonably practicable to present his claim within three months and until 30 January 2012.  The claimant was profoundly deaf, had difficulty in communicating and was trying, in difficult circumstances, to resolve the issue directly.  The tribunal is satisfied, having heard the evidence of the claimant, that the deductions were made and had been made unlawfully - £272.19 is awarded.

6.	The tribunal is satisfied that this was a redundancy situation, brought to a head by the untimely death of Mr Stothers (Senior).  The termination of the employment was an automatically unfair dismissal in that the respondent company did not follow the statutory dismissal procedure.  The claimant is therefore entitled to a sum of £10,221.31 which equates to the basic unfair dismissal award on statutory redundancy payment.  He was 54 years of age at the date of dismissal and had 27 complete years of service:-

		26.5 x £385.71			=			£10,221.31

7.	The claimant did not work any period of notice and received no payment in respect of any such period.  Given his length to service, he is entitled to payment for 12 weeks’ notice which total £3,668.52

8.	The likelihood of a recovery in relation to any claim was discussed and the claimant withdrew his claim for a compensatory award in relation to his unfair dismissal claim.

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

Vice President:

Date and place of hearing:	21 September 2012, Belfast

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: