Mr Cann and Mr Rimmer v Aquatic Chemicals Ltd — 2023

The tribunal heard the claims on 23 August 2023 in the respondent’s absence after the Employment Judge checked service, noted the respondent had not entered a response, and found no good reason for the non-attendance. Both claimants represented themselves and gave sworn evidence, with their ET1 forms treated as evidence in chief. The second claimant confirmed that he was no longer pursuing a severance pay claim.

For Mr Cann, the tribunal accepted that he was employed on a gross wage of £2,000 per month and worked from 1 December 2022 to 8 December 2022, but was not paid for that period. The tribunal found the failure to pay was not authorised by statute, contract, or prior written consent, and upheld the unlawful deduction from wages complaint, awarding £646 gross. It also found that the respondent had asked him to extend a car hire arrangement for a second week, agreed to sort out payment, and then failed to do so while he was still employed. Because Mr Cann later paid the hire cost himself on 20 December 2022, the tribunal found a breach of contract and awarded £270 gross.

The tribunal further accepted Mr Cann’s evidence that the respondent orally agreed on the morning of 8 December 2022 to pay notice pay from 9 December 2022 to 31 December 2022. It found a breach of contract in relation to that notice period and awarded £1,354 gross, calculated as one month’s gross pay of £2,000 less the £646 already awarded for 1 to 8 December 2022.

For Mr Rimmer, the tribunal accepted that he had received payslips showing statutory sick pay figures of £538 for December 2022, £538 for January 2023, £508 for February 2023, £552 for March 2023 and £161 for April 2023, but his bank statements showed no corresponding payments. He accepted the respondent’s figures as correct, and the tribunal found the failure to pay was not authorised by statute, contract, or agreement. It therefore upheld the unlawful deduction from wages complaint and awarded £2,297 net, being the sum of the unpaid amounts on the payslips.