In Person v Miss. Nije — 2022

The claimant was employed by Mariana Njie Limited trading as M & N Healthcare from 25 April 2022 to 3 June 2022 as an office care co-ordinator. She brought a claim for arrears of pay. The parties disagreed about the hours worked and the amount due: the claimant advanced a lower figure at the hearing, while the respondent calculated that £1,620 gross was owed for hours worked.

The respondent said it was entitled to set off a car loan against wages, and referred to an unsigned contract and to items it said were still owed to it. The tribunal found that there was no signed contract of employment and no signed agreement or written consent allowing the loan to be deducted from wages. It also noted that the ET3 did not include a counterclaim, so it could not determine any loan claim in those proceedings.

Applying section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal held that the respondent was not entitled to withhold wages in the absence of a contractual term or written consent. It accepted the respondent's calculation of the unpaid wages and awarded the claimant £1,620 gross for arrears of pay.