An employment tribunal chairman has cut the award made to a former employee who was unfairly dismissed by a store in Port Erin.
The tribunal unanimously agreed Jackie Reid was unfairly dismissed by The Good Health Store Ltd in Port Erin and also suffered unlawful deductions from her pay and awarded her £7,161.
Last month Kirsten Bennett, who owns the shop, told the Manx Independent of her intention to appeal against that ruling.
Chairman Douglas Stewart considered the application for a review by Ms Bennett and has elected to remove a £528 award he and the panel made, reducing the overall award to £6,633.
He explained that it was considered ’reasonable to reduce the award made to the complainant (Mrs Reid) in respect of the unlawful deduction element between March 16 and March 31 on the basis that the complainant terms and conditions of employment did not entitled her to be paid whilst absent due to sickness’.
This decision was made to ensure that the original award didn’t lead to an ’unreliable precedent’ being set for loss of earnings during sickness when a person’s contract does not entitle payment during this absence.
Mr Stewart said in his new ruling on the appeal application that Ms Bennett ’pointed out the current economic circumstances for small businesses’.
He added: ’She has submitted that the award was neither proportionate nor fair.’
However, he rejected this saying that the original tribunal had ’exercised its discretion in favour of the respondent’ when it chose only to award Mrs Reid one week’s lost wages, as opposed to the four weeks’ it was entitled to make.
Mr Stewart said this is despite that when the original judgement was made in September, ’it was uncertain on the evidence that she would be able to obtain further employment on a part-time basis in the retail sector (or otherwise)’.
He also restated that Mrs Reid did have ’her employment terminated in unfair circumstances’.
Mr Stewart also rejected arguments from Ms Bennett on English jurisprudence and the unemployment statistics for September.