Mr Malcolm Ward v Kevs Cars & Coaches Ltd — 2023

The claimant, Mr Malcolm Ward, brought claims arising from an unpaid wages dispute against Kevs Cars & Coaches Ltd. The tribunal identified the issues as unpaid wages and no itemised wage slips after 9 July 2022, and also dealt with the claimant's request for interest. It heard evidence from the claimant, director Ms Wendy Nind and office manager Ms Emma Ayres at a CVP hearing on 1 September 2023, with the decision reserved.

On the wages issue, the tribunal rejected the respondent's case that the claimant had gone AWOL. It found the respondent's evidence problematic and accepted the claimant's account that Ms Ayres told him there was no work for him over the summer, which he then followed up with calls to his supervisor Darren. The tribunal relied on the consistency of the claimant's evidence and his phone logs, and noted that no respondent witness gave evidence that he had been asked why he was not at work. It found that the respondent had not taken proper steps to clarify whether there was work available, despite the claimant's enquiries.

The tribunal held that the claimant was ready and willing to work and that the respondent had therefore failed to pay his wages for the relevant period. It calculated unpaid wages at £400 per week gross for the weeks ending 6 August 2022, 20 August 2022, 27 August 2022 and 3 September 2022, totalling £1,600. It also applied a 10% ACAS uplift of £160 because of the way the respondent dealt with the claimant's enquiries and grievance, producing a total sum owed of £1,760.

The itemised payslip claim failed. Although the tribunal accepted that payslips were available in the office, it found there was no evidence they were unavailable to the claimant or that he had asked for them to be sent, and it therefore did not uphold the s.8 ERA 1996 claim. The claim for interest also failed because the tribunal held that interest cannot be paid on unpaid wages claims.