Lincolnshire woman wasn’t told that she had been ‘fired’ for four months

Please note: The tribunal hasn’t reached a final decision yet on whether the matter was unfair dismissal. 

An employee at a Mablethorpe amusement arcade has received nearly £2,000 after being replaced without her knowing.

She spent four months believing that she still had a job while on sick leave for mental health problems.

Her employer claims it fired her by letter after they didn’t hear from her for several weeks, but she disputes this.

The woman brought claims against Empire Amusements and Cheeky Monkey’s Soft Play Centre on Mablethorpe High Street.

She argued that because she only learned of her termination months later, she hadn’t missed the deadline for claiming she had been unfairly dismissed.

An employment tribunal heard that she was admitted to hospital in March 2020, leaving her unable to work for several weeks.

The arcade manager says that he tried to get in touch with her by letter several times around this time without a response, and eventually dropped one at her house saying she had been terminated.

However, the employee says this never happened. She was under the impression that she was still employed while she was recovering.

It was only when she went into the workplace in July later that she was told she had been replaced and no longer had a job.

The tribunal heard that the company had no proof that the letters had been posted, and had never checked with the woman if she had received them.

She continued to text her boss normally during this time, even sending him an emoji of a dancing gorilla.

At one point, she told her work: “I will come in when you open up [from lockdown]”, and wasn’t corrected.

A sick pay form completed by the arcades also seemed to indicate she was still employed during this time period.

The tribunal ruled that the evidence pointed to the fact that she hadn’t been fired in March when Empire Amusements claimed.

Therefore, she was entitled to file her claim that she had been unfairly dismissed.

Empire Arcades agreed to pay the woman £1913 that she claimed she was owed from this period.

The arcade company has been contacted for comment and hasn’t responded.