Mr H Felix v Flash Transport Ltd — 2022

The claimant, Mr H Felix, worked for Flash Transport Ltd as an HGV driver from 1 March 2020 to 2 February 2021. He was paid £140 per day gross, made up of a £130 basic daily rate and a £10 bonus, and sometimes worked overtime at weekends. He brought a claim for unlawful deductions from wages, saying that he had not been paid for overtime in December 2020, wages in January 2021, and wages for 1 February 2021.

The tribunal accepted the respondent's evidence that wages were normally paid in arrears but that the claimant frequently requested advances, which made the monthly payments and payslips difficult to reconcile. It relied on bank statements, payslips, WhatsApp messages and tachograph data, and found that the claimant worked 17 days in December 2020, including five days' overtime, and 17 days in January 2021, including two days' overtime. It also found that a payslip error had affected the December 2020 and January 2021 documents, but that the discrepancy was corrected in later payments.

The tribunal found that the total net amount shown on the claimant's payslips for March 2020 to January 2021 was £25,210.36, plus £140 for his final day's work on 1 February 2021, while the respondent's net payments into his bank account from 30 March 2020 to 1 February 2021 totalled £25,748.80. It concluded that he had been paid more in aggregate than he was owed. The alleged December overtime, January overtime and final day's wages were all treated as having been included in the payments made, and the unlawful deduction from wages claim was dismissed.

Because the claim was not upheld, the tribunal did not need to decide whether the respondent had breached its duty to provide a written statement of employment particulars under section 38 of the Employment Act 2002.