Claimant v Almond Blossom Care Ltd

The tribunal found that while on its face the dismissal could appear discriminatory, the respondent demonstrated that the decision was entirely due to the claimant misleading Ms Okoro about having booked tickets to Pakistan on 5 November, after a meeting where the claimant had agreed to return to work on 1 November. The tribunal accepted that when the meeting ended, Ms Okoro felt matters were resolved and the claimant would return to work, which was strong evidence that pregnancy was not a motivating factor in the subsequent decision to dismiss. The reason was the perceived deliberate misleading conduct, not the pregnancy.

Under s99 ERA 1996 and the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999, dismissal is automatically unfair if the reason is connected with pregnancy. The tribunal found that the reason for dismissal was not connected with the claimant's pregnancy but rather with the claimant's conduct in misleading the respondent about her travel plans to Pakistan after agreeing to return to work. The tribunal accepted Ms Okoro's evidence that the dismissal decision was made solely because the claimant had already booked tickets to Pakistan while agreeing to return to work, which had nothing to do with pregnancy.

The tribunal found that the claimant's contract stated she was entitled to a salary of £24,372 per annum and the respondent was obliged to offer her at least 43 hours per week. Despite this contractual entitlement, the respondent treated her as if on a zero hours contract and only paid for hours actually worked. For September the claimant was available for 6 days and not paid (£406.20 owed). For October she was owed her full monthly salary of £2,031. The respondent unlawfully withheld these wages totalling £3,078.45.

The claimant was employed from 5 April 2023 to 2 November 2023 and took no paid annual leave during this period. She was entitled to 5.6 weeks paid annual leave pro rata, which amounted to 3.25 weeks for the period she worked. She took no days paid leave and was therefore entitled to be paid for all accrued but untaken leave, calculated as £1,523.25.