An employment tribunal in Belfast has ordered a Northern Ireland tour operator to pay more than £19,000 to a former office manager after finding she was constructively and unfairly dismissed following months of unpaid leave imposed without proper procedure.

Tina Elizabeth Duncan brought claims against Benn Allen, trading as Allen's Tours, covering unfair dismissal, wage arrears, notice pay, holiday pay, and failures to provide written employment particulars and itemised pay statements. The tribunal, presided over by Employment Judge Bell and sitting on 7, 8 and 9 October 2025, found all principal claims well founded. Its judgment was issued on 6 March 2026.

Duncan had worked for Allen's Tours as an Office Manager, returning to full-time employment with the respondent in or around October 2017. In July 2023, Allen attended her home without prior notice and presented a letter alleging slurred speech, incoherence, and alcohol consumption during working hours. He told her to take two months of unpaid leave and indicated she would need to provide a written personal assurance that unspecified problems had been resolved before returning. No contractual provision permitted suspension without pay, and Duncan was ready and willing to work. Payments to her stopped entirely after 2 August 2023.

Duncan wrote to Allen on 1 September 2023 requesting he initiate a proper investigation and disciplinary process, citing the Labour Relations Agency Code of Practice, and asking him to facilitate her return to work by 12 September 2023. She sent a follow-up reminder on 7 September 2023, copied to Allen's bookkeeper. Neither communication received a response. On 20 September 2023, she wrote to Allen stating she had no option but to treat herself as dismissed or, in the alternative, was resigning in response to his repudiatory breach of contract. She received her P45 the following day, dated 13 September 2023.

The tribunal found that Allen's unilateral imposition of unpaid leave on a willing employee breached a fundamental implied term of her contract - his continuing duty to pay her wages. It further found that his failure to investigate, follow statutory disciplinary procedures, observe LRA Code of Practice safeguards, or respond to Duncan's correspondence amounted to conduct calculated or likely to destroy the trust and confidence she was entitled to place in him as her employer. The tribunal concluded she was dismissed within the meaning of Article 127(c) of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 and that the dismissal was unfair under Article 130.

On remedy, the tribunal calculated Duncan's continuous employment from October 2017, giving her six complete years of service. It applied a 25% Polkey reduction to the compensatory award to reflect a real possibility that her employment may have ended in any event, noting a final written warning Allen had issued in March 2023 and his genuine concerns about her conduct or capability. However, it found no grounds to reduce compensation for contributory conduct. A further 25% uplift was applied to the compensatory award for Allen's unreasonable failure to comply with the LRA Code of Practice. The tribunal also found Allen in breach of his duty to provide written employment particulars, noting that a document he presented as a contract of employment had been prepared solely for a business tender and was never given to Duncan. An Article 27 award of four weeks' pay was made on that basis.

The total award of £19,156.13 breaks down as: a basic award of £3,280, a compensatory award of £9,223.13, wage arrears of £2,870, notice pay of £1,815, holiday pay of £328, and an Article 27 award of £1,640. The tribunal also made a formal declaration that Allen failed to provide Duncan with written itemised pay statements as required under Article 40 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. A contract counterclaim brought by Allen was withdrawn at the hearing and dismissed, with his right to pursue the matter through the civil courts reserved.