Mr K Kalinowski v Sam Hunter and and 1 other — 2019

Mr Kalinowski brought a wages claim against Sam Hunter and Christine Barber trading as Hunter Concrete Products. The respondents did not present a response. The tribunal accepted that the claimant was employed personally by Mr Hunter and Ms Barber rather than by Hunter Concrete Products Ltd, because Mr Hunter interviewed him and offered him the job, he was paid directly by Hunter Concrete Products, and the payslips later produced were incorrect and did not name any employer. The tribunal also recorded that he had not been given a written contract of employment.

The tribunal held that the respondents made unauthorised deductions from wages by failing to pay £70 overtime from the week commencing 3 June 2019 and four days' wages from the week commencing 10 June 2019. The claimant said his employment ended when he refused to drive an unsafe vehicle on 13 June 2019 and was told to go home. Ms Barber said the wages were withheld because he had damaged a vehicle, but the tribunal noted there was no signed authority for that and that vehicles were often bumped in the business without employees being told to worry about it. It ordered payment of £470 net.

On the separate issue of the written contract, the tribunal found that at the time proceedings were begun the respondents were in breach of their duty to provide a written contract of employment. It found no exceptional circumstances and said it was not just and equitable to award four weeks' pay, so it awarded two weeks' pay of £1,000. The judgment also states that the claimant indicated he intended to bring an unfair dismissal claim, but that nothing in the judgment dealt with any such claim.