In person Spanish Interpreter: Mr J McGregor For the v Mr S Messruther, Director — 2022

The claimant, Mrs M Lopez, worked for the respondent as a cleaner from 11 July 2019 to 14 November 2021. The tribunal found that during the pandemic the claimant's working arrangements changed after a temporary closure and furlough period, and that her guaranteed weekly hours were reduced from 24 to 20 hours by agreement to avoid redundancies. The tribunal also found that she did not protest that change in any event.

On wages, the tribunal reviewed the payslips for the relevant period and identified only two shortfalls that were not explained at the hearing. One was for the week 6 to 12 September 2021, where the claimant was paid for 18 hours plus furlough pay shown on the slip, leaving an apparent shortfall of £3.56. The other was for the week 4 to 10 October 2021, where the payslip showed payment of £175.52, £2.68 short of 20 hours pay. The tribunal accepted that a further underpayment had later been corrected for the final week of employment.

The tribunal concluded that the total wage shortfall was £6.24 and upheld the claim for unauthorised deduction of wages under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, with section 23 providing the tribunal route for recovery. It also found that the claimant was entitled to holiday pay under the Working Time Regulations 1998 and that, although holiday pay had been paid up to the end of March 2021, there remained an outstanding balance for the period 1 April 2021 to 14 November 2021.

Applying a broad brush calculation and the average pay method over the relevant period, the tribunal found that 3.5 weeks' holiday pay at an average of £196.80 per week came to £688.80. After crediting the claimant with holiday pay already paid for that period, the outstanding holiday pay was £243.30. The tribunal therefore ordered the respondent to pay £249.54 gross in total, less tax and National Insurance.