Mr L Stephens v Rapid Response Telecoms Ltd — 2023

Mr L Stephens worked for Rapid Response Telecoms Ltd from 1 August 2022 to 15 May 2023 as a senior fibre engineer. He resigned on 2 May 2023, was put on gardening leave during his notice period, and brought claims for notice pay, pay for work done on 1 May 2023, underpaid wages from November 2022, on-call payments, and untaken holiday pay. The tribunal treated the matters as claims for unauthorised deductions from wages under Part II of the Employment Rights Act 1996, with holiday pay also considered under the Working Time Regulations 1998 in the alternative.

The tribunal upheld the claims for notice pay, 1 May 2023 pay, van damage deduction, and holiday pay. It found that the claimant was entitled to 10 working days' notice pay at £130.80 per day, that he had worked on 1 May 2023 and should have been paid £130.80 for that day, and that the deduction of £228.90 from his final pay for van damage was not authorised because the respondent had not carried out a reasonable investigation or reached a reasonable conclusion that he was responsible or negligent. It also found that eight days of untaken contractual holiday were due on termination, producing an award of £1,040.

The on-call payments claim was dismissed because the tribunal found that, looking at the period as a whole, the claimant had been paid all that he should have been paid and there was no net underpayment. The November 2022 wages claim was also dismissed on time grounds: the tribunal found that £738.60 was properly payable but held that the deduction was a discrete one, not part of a series, and that it was reasonably practicable to have presented the claim within the three-month time limit. The total gross award was £2,707.70, and the tribunal stated that the claimant is responsible for any tax or National Insurance due.