Mr W Sewell v Reedscare Group Limited — 2024

The case was heard on 10 October 2024 before Employment Judge Platt. The claimant appeared in person and the respondent was represented remotely. The tribunal recorded that the respondent initially suggested the claimant had only been employed for about one month in 2024, but later accepted that he had been employed since 2017 and that, after the original employer went into compulsory liquidation, he was employed by Reedscare Group Limited. The tribunal limited its determination to matters against the respondent that post-dated the liquidation and said it could not deal with issues concerning the original employer.

On the unlawful deductions claim, the tribunal examined payslips, bank statements, timesheets and the claimant's schedule of loss. It rejected the alleged deduction for November 2023 because the December 2023 payslip and bank statement showed that he had been paid for the correct hours worked. It accepted that the respondent had failed to pay 40 hours due in January 2024, 45 hours due in February 2024, 55 hours due in March 2024 and 70 hours due in April 2024. Using the agreed hourly rate of £12.50, the tribunal found unlawful deductions totalling £2,625 gross.

For holiday pay, the tribunal found that the claimant worked 2,667 hours and 182 sleep-ins across the relevant 52-week period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. Applying Regulations 13 and 13A of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and the approach in Fulton and Baxter v Bear Scotland Limited and British Gas Trading Ltd v Lock, it calculated total holiday entitlement at £3,939.97 gross. After deducting £1,337.50 gross already paid by the respondent for 107 hours of holiday, it found £2,602.47 gross remained due on termination.

The tribunal also found that the claimant had not been provided with written particulars of employment when employment with the respondent began. Under section 38 of the Employment Act 2002, it awarded four weeks' pay, calculated at £641.11 per week, producing a further award of £2,564.00. The total award was therefore £7,791.47 gross.