O'Grady v Castle Street Inns Ltd T/A Ton...

(1) The issue for the tribunal to determine was whether the claimant had been unfairly dismissed by the respondent in contravention of Article 126 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.

(2) In a claim lodged on 6 October 2008, the claimant alleged that he had been unfairly dismissed by the respondent on 16 August 2008. The respondent did not receive a copy of this claim and only found out about its existence during a telephone conversation with an official in the Labour Relations Agency.

(3) On 16 January 2009, a late response was lodged indicating that the claim form which had been provided by the tribunal had been incomplete. The respondent reserved its position until the complete claim form was received. Despite that reservation, the response did state at paragraph 3.5 that the respondent agreed that the claimant had been dismissed.

(4) A default judgement had already been issued on the same day, 16 January 2009, because a response had not, at that point, been entered by the respondent. The default judgement was set aside at a hearing on 9 March 2009.

(6) The tribunal heard evidence from the claimant, and from his partner Ms Karen Hinshelwood. The witnesses for the respondent were Mrs Patsy Hughes, the respondent’s General Manager and Mr Sean Toner, the respondent’s Assistant General Manager.