Joaquin Ibañez Ruiz v Owston Estate Company Limited t/a Owston Hall Hotel — 2020

Joaquin Ibañez Ruiz was employed by Owston Estate Company Limited t/a Owston Hall Hotel as Head Green Keeper from 28 March 2018 until 29 February 2020. At the telephone hearing on 2 June 2020 before Employment Judge Evans sitting alone, the Claimant applied to amend his claim to add complaints about rent deductions during the employment. The Tribunal refused that amendment, applying the Selkent guidance, because it raised a new factual issue, was out of time, and was made at the start of the final hearing when the Respondent was not prepared to meet it.

The remaining issue was the Claimant's complaint that the Respondent had unlawfully deducted his February 2020 wages. Mr Parker conceded that £2,583.33 had been withheld and that the deduction was unlawful. The Tribunal therefore found the unlawful deduction complaint well founded under sections 13 and 24 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and ordered payment of the deducted sum.

On remedy, the Tribunal accepted the Claimant's evidence that the late payment meant he could not immediately pay the deposit on accommodation arranged in Spain, so he spent a week seeking alternative accommodation and started his new employment one week later than planned. The Tribunal accepted a net loss of €550 and, using the agreed exchange rate of £1 to €1.12, awarded £491.07 for financial loss. It did not award the £1,410.32 borrowed from the Claimant's mother because that amount was a loan rather than a loss attributable to the unlawful deduction.