Millie Matthews v SGM Fashion Retail Ltd — 2020

Millie Matthews worked as an apprentice for SGM Fashion Retail Ltd from 7 January 2019 to 30 April 2019 and resigned without serving notice. The tribunal accepted that the offer letter dated 29 December 2018 formed the contract, under which the respondent agreed to pay £148 per week. On that basis, the amount due for 16 weeks and 1 day was £2,397.60, while the respondent had paid £1,801.25 in wages.

The respondent argued that deductions were justified and produced a schedule asserting that the claimant owed it £536.35, but the tribunal found there was no evidence to substantiate that assertion. Following the earlier case management order, the burden was on the respondent to prove that the deductions were proper, and it provided no evidence at the hearing. The tribunal also rejected the respondent's reliance on the statutory minimum hourly apprenticeship rate and on holiday-related points, holding that they did not answer the claimant's claim for the contractual weekly wage.

The tribunal held that the claimant's agreement to sign a deductions authorisation form did not assist the respondent because the form could only authorise proper deductions, and this was not a lawful deduction for overpayment under section 14 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Judgment was therefore entered for unlawful deductions from wages in the sum of £596.35.