Mrs M Kinyenze v Saanie Medical Services Limited — 2025

Employment Judge Leith, sitting alone at Cardiff (via CVP) on 19 March 2025, heard the Claimant's complaints of unauthorised deduction from wages and failure to pay accrued but untaken holiday pay against Saanie Medical Services Limited. The Claimant had commenced employment on 6 October 2023 in the Respondent's Domiciliary Care Unit on a contract providing for a paid 60 minute lunch break at £10.90 per hour plus £2.10 mileage/travel pay. The Respondent's case was that she transferred to its Agency Unit on 15 November 2023 onto a new contract providing for a salary of £22,425 and an unpaid 60 minute lunch break.

The Tribunal dismissed the unauthorised deduction from wages claim. It found that the Claimant had been paid for the disputed 26-27 September 2024 shifts, that the post-November 2023 contract governed the lunch break entitlement so no further payment was due, and that the deductions made in June-September 2024 (totalling £600) were authorised by the Claimant's WhatsApp message of 1 February 2024 in respect of a loan of £800. Applying s.13(6) ERA 1996, the Judge held that the written consent could not retrospectively authorise deductions in respect of an earlier £2,000 loan, but the deductions actually made fell within the scope of the valid authorisation.

The holiday pay claim succeeded. Applying the formula in regulation 14(3) of the Working Time Regulations 1998, the Judge calculated that the Claimant had accrued 2.8 weeks of leave for the half-year worked from 1 April 2024 to 30 September 2024, with a weekly pay of £431.25, giving a value of £1,207.50. The Judge held there is no provision in the Regulations permitting deduction from accrued but untaken annual leave, and awarded the Claimant that gross sum.