Mr Benjamin James Mathiou v Featherstone Rovers Rugby League Football Club Ltd — 2023

The tribunal refused the respondent's application for leave to file a Response out of time. It heard the claimant in person and accepted his unchallenged evidence, including his fixed-term contract dated 17 January 2022, which provided for an annual salary of £18,000 payable in monthly instalments and stated that employment could only commence once he obtained an Irish passport.

On the wages claim, the tribunal found that the claimant could only lawfully work from 1 April 2022, when he obtained the passport, until the contract ended on 30 November 2022. It held that he was entitled to eight months' pay rather than the ten months from the contract date, and that he had been paid for six months but not for February and March or for October and November. That shortfall was treated as an unlawful deduction from wages contrary to section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, and the tribunal awarded £3,116.66 net after statutory deductions, reflecting £3,699.32 gross.

On the bonus claim, the tribunal accepted that the contract entitled the claimant to £200 gross for each match won and found no contractual wording excluding wins achieved while he was loaned to another club. It found that he had received one win bonus but had proved five further unpaid wins, so he was entitled to six win bonuses in total. The tribunal awarded £800 net after statutory deductions for the five unpaid bonuses and stated that both awards were to be made after statutory deductions from the gross sums referred to in the judgment.