Jason Elliott was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2013 and is the Associate Head of School of Law at Ulster University. As a practising barrister, he has developed a largely civil practice representing individuals, companies and public bodies in litigation. This covers a wide range of areas including personal injuries, wills and employment law. In terms of employment law, he has represented both applicants and respondents in the Industrial Tribunal. At Ulster University, Jason lectures extensively on the civil areas of practise such as Equity and Trusts and delivers employment law lectures for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The claimant was employed by the respondent from 18th January 2021 until the termination of her employment on 13th April 2021. She was employed as the Regional Operations Director for the respondent. The claimant was not given any precise reason for the dismissal but she had raised a number of issues, which she felt were important.
The issue arose in relation to pay that should have been received in the event of terminating employment. The claimant’s contract outlined a salary of £60,000 per annum with a notice period of 3 months by either party to the contract. This was a draft contract before taking up employment but no full contract was ever received by the claimant. The Tribunal was satisfied that it could be relied upon, in conjunction with her payslips, to calculate the award. It was found that there was net pay of £3,340.63 per month and that could be used to calculate the three months’ notice pay. This was calculated as £10,021.89. Furthermore, there were some days in which the claimant had worked at the end of her employment which she had not received pay for as well as accrued holidays. As a result, the claimant was awarded £12,261.17 in total.
Practical Lessons
There can be situations in which a new appointment does not work out and it may be best for the parties to ‘go their separate ways’. However, the approach taken by the respondent in this case is not one to follow. The starting point in determining the entitlement of an employee when it comes to terminating the employment should be the contract. It was clear in this case that there was a three months’ notice period to be given. The respondent had suggested some issue of ‘voluntary notice’ yet this had no basis in evidence. Therefore, employers should be mindful of the notice periods that are required under contracts of employment and the pros and cons that they may give. Secondly, they need to be followed otherwise there can be a claim for breach of contract.
NI Tribunal decisions are available on the OITFET website:
http://www.employmenttribunalsni.co.uk/
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