Mr D Witts v Martindales Limited — 2023

Mr Witts worked for Martindales Ltd as a window fitter and surveyor from 1 May 2022 and resigned on 22 November 2022, with his last working day on 28 November 2022. At the hearing he withdrew the unpaid holiday pay and unpaid notice pay claims after those matters had been settled, and the tribunal dismissed them on withdrawal.

The remaining issue was whether the respondent was entitled to make 12 deductions from the claimant's final pay, totalling £1,013.55. The tribunal considered the April 2022 'Deductions from Wages' form and 'Van Checks' form, together with the evidence about the return of the van, keys, depot locks, and the condition of the vehicle and equipment after the claimant left.

The tribunal upheld the deductions for the replacement van key, replacement padlock, Dallas key, replacement depot locks, van deep clean, compensation for the sideboard, and recruitment costs. It found, in summary, that the claimant was not negligent in relation to the keys or depot locks, that the state of the van was not shown to have been caused by his negligence, that there was no evidence he caused the sideboard damage, and that there was no factual basis or evidence of what recruitment checks were charged or how they were quantified.

The tribunal dismissed the deductions for missing stepladders, missing Hoover, missing transformer, damaged wing mirror, and incorrectly measured glazed unit. It accepted the respondent's evidence on those items, including the weekly checklist and the evidence that the claimant was responsible for the measuring error. The respondent was ordered to pay the claimant the gross sum of £606.82.