Mr R Barker, Solicitor For the v Mr A Etheridge, Lay Representative & Club Secretary — 2019

The tribunal found that Mr Gary Charles was employed by Boro Leisure Limited c/o Nuneaton Borough FC from 20 March 2018 on the terms he asserted, namely that he would work as Football Manager on a permanent basis through the end of the season and into the next season, initially at £625 per week. Although there was no written contract, the tribunal accepted his account on the balance of probabilities and said the documentary evidence supported it. It rejected the respondent’s case that the arrangement ended by agreement at the end of the football season on 28 April 2018, or that he worked thereafter without entitlement to wages.

On the wages claim, the tribunal held that the claimant had established unlawful deductions from wages within sections 13-27 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It accepted the respondent’s own concession that £2,732.14 was due for the period to 28 April 2018, and then added £3,428.57 for the period from 29 April 2018 to 15 June 2018, producing a total award of £6,160.71 gross. The tribunal rejected the respondent’s argument based on custom and practice in non-league football, finding that the asserted practice was not proved to be applicable to this contractual relationship.

On the breach of contract claim, the tribunal found that the claimant was dismissed on 15 June 2018 and had been entitled to one week’s notice. It held that he was not given notice or payment in lieu of notice, so the claim succeeded under the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) Order 1994. The tribunal awarded £500 gross for that claim. The judgment records that the claimant had accepted the dismissal communicated through the club’s statement and that the overall position was one of immediate termination without the notice due.