The claimant worked part time as an administration manager and was summarily dismissed in August 2022 without investigation or procedure. The ET found she was an employee and that her dismissal was unfair but limited her claim for lost earnings to six months, instead of the 19 claimed, as she had failed to mitigate her loss instead working on her property rental business. The ET also awarded only £1,000 as a preparation time order, against 155 claimed hours, without explaining how they had arrived at the figure. The claimant appealed both remedy decisions, arguing the tribunal had wrongly reversed the burden of proof.

Judge Gullick KC allowed the appeal on both grounds. The preparation time order should be based on a finding of the number of hours, multiplied by the hourly rate so the fixed sum was an error. On mitigation, the ET’s wording showed it applied the wrong test. Accordingly the compensatory award, preparation time order and ACAS uplift were set aside and remitted to a different judge.