Miss P Crawshaw v Daves Aquarium Limited Introduction/ — 2024

The claim was sent to the respondent's registered office on 18 March 2024. No response was presented by the return date or at all, and no application for an extension of time was made. Employment Judge JM Wade determined that there was sufficient information on file to give judgment in the notice pay and redundancy payment claims, and that, in the interests of justice, the unlawful deductions of wages complaint could also be disposed of by Rule 21 judgment in the absence of any defence.

The tribunal gave a Rule 21 judgment in the claimant's favour on all three complaints. The redundancy payment claim succeeded in the gross sum of £4,617; the notice pay claim succeeded in the gross sum of £2,736; and the unlawful deduction of wages complaint succeeded in the gross sum of £23,092.44. The judgment recorded the total payable by the respondent as £20,160.

The unlawful deductions complaint concerned a series of deductions in which tax and national insurance were deducted from the claimant's pay but not paid over to HMRC, with liability said to have passed on a TUPE transfer of a shop from previous employing companies founded by the same person. The judgment characterised this as complex but disposable under Rule 21 given the absence of any defence.