THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

CASE REFS:   1641/10
1898/10

CLAIMANT:			Stephen Heron

RESPONDENT:		J & D Construction Ltd

DECISION
The decision of the tribunal is that:-

	(a)	the claimant is entitled to a redundancy payment of £5,700.00;

	(b)	the claimant is entitled to holiday pay of £360.00; and

	(c)	the claimant is entitled to notice pay of £2,542.90.

Constitution of Tribunal:
Chairman (sitting alone):		Mr P Kinney

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

Facts

1.	The claimant is 57 years of age.  He was employed by the respondent from 29 May 1999 until 24 March 2010 when he was dismissed with immediate effect because of the financial difficulties faced by the respondent.  Mr Devlin, of the respondent company, came on site and spoke to the claimant and his colleagues on 24 March 2010.  He told the claimant that the bank would provide no more money and that work was to stop that day on completion of the job they were on.  The claimant’s last day at work was 24 March 2010.

2.	The claimant was paid his wages to the date of termination of employment.  The respondent in his response has accepted that it owes the claimant the sum of £360.00 for holiday pay.

3.	At the date of dismissal the claimant’s net weekly wage was £300.00 which I estimate to equate to a gross weekly wage of £400.00.  The claimant makes claims for redundancy payment, holiday pay and notice pay.  He has received Jobseeker’s Allowance from the middle of April 2010 in the sum of £65.30 per week.  He has not obtained new employment.  

4.	After hearing the evidence of the claimant the tribunal is satisfied that his claims are well-founded.  The tribunal makes the following awards:-

		Redundancy pay

The claimant is entitled to an award of 15 weeks pay for redundancy payment.  This is based on his gross weekly but that gross weekly wage is subject to a statutory cap which at the time of dismissal was £380.00.  The claimant is therefore entitled to £5,700.00 in respect of redundancy payment.

Holiday pay

The respondent has conceded that holiday pay of £360.00 is due to the claimant.  The claimant agrees this figure is correct.  The claimant is therefore entitled to £360.00 in respect of holiday pay.

Notice pay

The claimant is entitled to 10 weeks notice pay which is based on his net weekly wage.  However, from this figure must be deducted the Jobseeker’s Allowance he received during the notice period.  I calculate the 10 weeks notice pay to be a sum of £3,000.00 and the Jobseeker’s Allowance received in the 10 weeks notice period to be the sum of £457.10.  The claimant is therefore entitled to the sum of £2,542.90 in respect of notice pay.

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

Chairman:

Date and place of hearing:	26 October 2010, Belfast

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: