Ms Nicoleta Amarandi and 91 Others (See attached schedule) v Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust — 2023

The claim concerned alleged unauthorised deductions from wages arising from the failure to pay the Foundation Living Wage uplift from 9 November 2020 until 1 April 2021. The tribunal heard evidence from Ms Emily Gallagher of UNISON and considered payslips for six claimants together with the parties' submissions on limitation. It found there was a continuing series of deductions linked to the same issue, namely the uplift in the Foundation Living Wage, and applied Bear Scotland Ltd v Fulton and anor; Hertel (UK) Ltd and anor v Woods and ors when considering whether the payments formed a series.

The tribunal accepted that the last deduction in the series was the 23 July 2021 payment, because that was the last date on which the uplifted rate of £9.50 had not been applied. It rejected the claimants' argument that the later 20 August 2021 backpay and uplifted payment started a new limitation period. On that basis, the three-month time limit expired on 23 October 2021, before the ACAS early conciliation notification on 19 November 2021 and well before the ET1 presented on 28 January 2022.

On reasonable practicability, the tribunal applied Palmer and Saunders v Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and held that it would have been reasonably practicable to present the claim before 23 October 2021. It relied on the fact that UNISON had been engaged with the issue from November 2020, had made repeated attempts to resolve it, and had received a clear written position from the respondent in July 2021. The tribunal said the position had become crystallised by that stage, so the claim was dismissed as presented out of time.