Mrs S Pangeni v EU Plants Limited — 2024

The claimant, a Nepalese seasonal worker, worked for EU Plants Ltd from 19 November 2022 until she resigned on 17 January 2023. The tribunal held that the respondent breached section 1 ERA 1996 because it did not give her a copy of the signed employment contract. It rejected the separate complaint about itemised pay statements, finding that she was given payslips during employment and that the missing final slip was later supplied.

The unlawful deduction of wages claim failed. The claimant alleged underpayment of about £3,700 and said hours were under-recorded, including through the handling of piece-rate work and break times. The tribunal preferred Ms Tairova's evidence and the respondent's spreadsheets, found the claimant's phone notes were not contemporaneous, and concluded that the respondent's recorded hours were the more reliable account. It therefore found no unlawful deductions were proved.

The indirect race discrimination claim also failed. The tribunal allowed the claimant's amendment application by reference to Vaughan v Modality Partnership and the Selkent factors, but held that no PCP of paying a £10.10 hourly contract on a piece-rate basis, or of making unlawful deductions, had been established on the evidence. It also found no particular disadvantage to Nepalese workers or to the claimant herself, and noted that the holiday pay issue had been rectified by a £192 payment in May 2023 before proceedings were issued. The separate breach of contract claim for PPE, said to be worth £369, was dismissed because the tribunal accepted that gloves had been provided and that the claimant had not incurred the claimed loss.