Industrial Tribunals Northern Ireland Decisions

THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

 

                                                                                                  CASE REFS:          6810/09

 6812/09

 

 

 

CLAIMANTS:                    1. Adrian Reid

                                        2. Adrian Surgenor

 

RESPONDENTS:              C & D (2005) Ltd

 

 

 

DECISION

The decision of the Tribunal is that the claimants were made redundant by the respondent and the Tribunal orders the respondent to pay £1,976.22 to Adrian Surgenor and £1,317.48 to Adrian Reid.

 

Constitution of Tribunal:

Chairman (sitting alone): Ms Sheils    

         

Appearances:

The claimants appeared in person. The Office file indicated that there was a solicitor on record for the claimants but the solicitor did not turn up at the hearing. The claimants contacted the solicitor’s office and were advised that the solicitor had overlooked the matter but that they could proceed without him. The claimants indicated to the Tribunal that they wanted the matter to proceed and they represented themselves.

 

The respondents did not appear and were not represented.

 

 

 

1.       The Claims and the Response

 

          The claimants lodged claim forms in respect of outstanding notice pay and redundancy pay on 1 September 2009.  The respondents did not lodge any response to either claim form.

 

 

 

 

2.              Sources of Evidence

 

          The Tribunal heard evidence from both the claimants.

 

 

3.              Facts

 

(1)            The claimants, Mr Adrian Reid, date of birth 4 November 1969 and Mr Adrian Surgenor, date of birth  7 March 1963,  were employed in February 2005 by the respondents, C & D (2005) Ltd, as painters.  Both men earned £329.37 gross and £264.24 net per week.

 

(2)            In mid April 2009 the claimants received a letter in their wage slips from the respondents advising them that the company was closing at the end of April 2009.  The Tribunal did not see a copy of this letter.

 

(3)            The claimants were both entitled to four weeks notice.  However, although both worked two weeks of that notice period the respondents did not pay the outstanding two weeks notice pay. 

 

(4)            The claimants were not paid any redundancy money.

 

(5)            The claimants both contacted the Labour Relations Agency.  The Agency advised them to write to the respondents requesting their outstanding notice pay and redundancy monies.  On hearing this, the claimants contacted a solicitor and asked him to write this letter on their behalf, which he did.  The Tribunal did not see a copy of this letter and was not advised if there had been any reply to it.  The claimants stated that after this as far as they were concerned the solicitor “got on with the case”.

 

(6)            The solicitor lodged claim forms on behalf of each of the claimants and these were received at the Office of the Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunal on 1 September 2009.  The claims were for breach of contract in relation to the outstanding notice pay and for redundancy. 

 

 

4.       The Applicable Law

 

          Breach of contract

 

          A claim for breach of contract must be brought to a Tribunal within three months from the date of the breach.  However the Tribunal has jurisdiction to extend the time-limit if it considers that it was not reasonably practicable for the claim to have been brought within the three month period.  The evidence before the Tribunal in relation to this was only that the claimants had contacted the LRA and thereafter put the matter into the hands of their solicitor.  The Tribunal heard no other evidence in relation to this point.

 

          Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996

 

          Under Article 170 of this Order an employer shall pay redundancy payment to any employee of his if the employee is dismissed by the employer by reason of redundancy or is eligible for a redundancy payment by reason of being laid off or kept on short time.

 

          The entitlement to redundancy payment is determined by the provisions of Article 197 of the same Order.

 

 

5.       Conclusions

 

                    Notice Pay

 

          The Tribunal concluded that it was unable to extend the time-limit in relation to the outstanding notice pay on the basis that there was no evidence before it as to why it was not reasonably practicable for the claims to be lodged within the three month time-limit.

 

Redundancy Pay

 

The Tribunal concluded that both the claimants had been made redundant.  The Tribunal found that the redundancy pay for Mr Surgenor is:

 

 £329.37 x 1.5 x 4 = £1,976.22

 

The Tribunal found that in relation to Mr Reid the redundancy payment is:

 

£329.37 x 1 x 4 = £1,317.48

 

The Tribunal makes an order for the claimants to be paid redundancy in these amounts.

 

 

6.       Interest

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chairman:

 

 

Date and place of hearing:         5 November 2009, Belfast.        

 

 

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: