Miss K Brass / Mr J Johnson / Mr L Stevenson / Mr T Buckley v Dutton Divers Limited — 2024

Four claimants employed by Dutton Divers Limited brought claims of unlawful deduction from wages under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, heard together by Employment Judge A Williams sitting at Cardiff (remote) on 4 November 2024. The claimants represented themselves; the respondent was represented by its director, Ms Dutton. The tribunal accepted that the contracts of employment for Ms Brass, Mr Johnson and Mr Stevenson required the use of the respondent's electronic clocking-in system, Blip, and that what was properly payable was the hours recorded by that system, applying Agarwal v Cardiff University in determining what was properly payable.

For Ms Brass and Mr Johnson, the tribunal found their payslips accorded with the Blip transcripts and there was no evidence either had sought to rectify the records on the disputed dates. For Mr Stevenson, the tribunal found his payslips broadly matched the Blip transcripts and that an inconsistency between sums received and the figure on his P45 did not, of itself, establish that he had been paid less than was properly payable. For Mr Buckley, the tribunal accepted his August 2023 payment of £228.34 did not appear on his bank statement but found on the balance of probabilities that the respondent had made the payment via a Payment Instruction Confirmation containing the correct account details.

All four wages complaints were held to be not well-founded and were dismissed. No remedy was awarded.