A Northern Ireland Employment Tribunal has ordered Benn Allen, trading as Allen's Tours, to pay £19,156.13 to former office manager Tina Elizabeth Duncan, after finding she was constructively and unfairly dismissed. The judgment, issued on 6 March 2026, upheld claims covering unfair dismissal, wage arrears, notice pay, holiday pay, and failures to provide basic employment documentation.

Duncan had worked for Allen as an office manager from October 2017 until September 2023. On 19 July 2023, Allen attended her home without prior notice and handed her a letter raising concerns about her work performance, alleged slurred speech, and a smell of alcohol. He told her to take two months of unpaid leave and said she would need to provide a written personal assurance that the issues had been resolved before returning to work. No specific instances of alleged alcohol consumption were identified when Duncan challenged him on the allegations. There was no contractual provision allowing for suspension without pay.

Allen stopped making payments to Duncan from 2 August 2023. On 1 September 2023, she wrote to him requesting that he initiate a proper investigation and disciplinary process, facilitate her return to work by 12 September 2023, and address outstanding issues including the absence of a written contract and payslips. Allen did not respond to that letter or to a follow-up email sent on 7 September 2023. On 20 September 2023, Duncan wrote to Allen stating she had no choice but to treat herself as dismissed. She received her P45 the following day, dated 13 September 2023.

The tribunal found that Allen's unilateral imposition of unpaid leave, combined with his failure to follow statutory disciplinary procedures, comply with the Labour Relations Agency Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures, respond to Duncan's correspondence, or treat her letters as a grievance, amounted to a repudiatory breach of contract. The tribunal concluded Duncan was dismissed within the meaning of Article 127(c) of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, having terminated her contract in circumstances that entitled her to do so without notice.

The tribunal found the dismissal ordinarily unfair under Article 130 of the same Order. It noted that while Allen held a genuine concern about Duncan's conduct or capability, he imposed an indefinite unpaid suspension without identifying specific incidents, inviting her to a meeting, affording her the right to be accompanied, allowing her to state her case, or offering a right of appeal. The tribunal applied a 25% reduction to the compensatory award under the Polkey principle, reflecting a real but not predominant chance that employment would have ended even had fair procedures been followed. It also applied a 25% uplift to the compensatory award for Allen's unreasonable failure to comply with the LRA Code of Practice.

The tribunal found Duncan's continuous employment for compensation purposes ran from October 2017, giving her six complete years of service. Her weekly gross pay was £410. The compensatory award was calculated on the basis that Duncan should have been able to secure alternative employment within 26 weeks of the effective date of termination, set at 25 October 2023. Duncan secured alternative employment on 16 May 2025, but the tribunal determined the causal link for continuing loss ended on 24 April 2024.

Allen was also found to have failed to provide Duncan with written itemised pay statements during her employment, in breach of Article 40 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. The tribunal declared this breach and found that no written statement of employment particulars had ever been provided to Duncan. A document Allen presented at the hearing as her contract of employment was found to have been prepared for a third-party business tender and had not been given to Duncan. As a result, an additional four weeks' pay of £1,640 was awarded under Article 27 of the Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2003. A counterclaim raised by Allen was withdrawn at the hearing and dismissed, with his right to pursue the matter through the civil courts reserved.