In person For the v Mr D Reynolds, Director Tried to attend, but VHS system defeated all attempts — 2023

The tribunal corrected the respondent's name to Oven Support South West Limited after finding that the claimant's payslips and HMRC correspondence showed that company to be the employer. It accepted the claimant's evidence that he had been paid by that entity for a number of months and noted that the respondent had not replied to the tribunal office's request for comments on the identity of the correct employer.

On the merits, the tribunal found that the respondent failed to pay the claimant's wages for January 2023 (£1,885.00) and February 2023 (£718.50). It held that those deductions were not authorised and were therefore unlawful deductions from wages under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

For remedy, the tribunal accepted that the claimant had taken out a £760.00 loan from his girlfriend and that this loss was directly attributable to the unpaid wages. The claimant did not pursue his separate heads of loss for rent and lost universal credit after the tribunal explained why those items were not recoverable on the facts as put. Applying section 24(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal ordered the respondent to pay the claimant £3,363.50 gross, comprising the unpaid wages and the consequential loan loss.