Mr S Halliwell v F & H Coffee Ltd — 2020

The claimant was employed by F & H Coffee Ltd as manager of its Leeds outlet under a written contract, and the tribunal accepted that his wages were often paid late or only in part. After the respondent closed the Leeds branch in March 2020, it told staff they were on unpaid leave and then wrote on 6 April 2020 confirming that staff were furloughed backdated to 18 March 2020. The tribunal found that the claimant agreed that furlough variation, and that later difficulties between the respondent and HMRC did not undo the contractual variation between employer and employee.

The claimant withdrew his unfair dismissal and redundancy payment claims after acknowledging that he did not have sufficient service for them. The tribunal therefore dismissed those claims upon withdrawal and did not determine them on the merits. It also found no basis for any award relating to National Insurance, tax or pension accounting issues, beyond noting the claimant’s concerns about the respondent’s obligations to HMRC and the pension scheme.

On remedy, the tribunal found a breach of contract in relation to notice and awarded £480.64 gross, and a further £37.00 for unreimbursed expenses. It also upheld the claim for unlawful deductions from wages, identifying unpaid holiday pay accrued by 18 March 2020, unpaid wages then outstanding, holiday pay/accrued leave due at termination on 24 June 2020, and unpaid furlough wages for April to May 2020. Those unlawful deduction elements totalled £4,447.25 gross. The combined financial awards therefore came to £4,964.89 gross.