Miss M Mirza v Loudslurp MHS Ltd HELD by CVP — 2021

Miss M Mirza brought three unlawful deduction of wages complaints and two holiday pay complaints against Loudslurp MHS Ltd. The respondent did not appear or be represented. The tribunal accepted that the claimant worked eight extra days at home on the dates identified in the reasons, and it used her net monthly pay of £1,994.64 and annual net pay of £23,935.68 to derive a daily net figure of £65.58 for the wages claims.

The tribunal upheld the eight-day wages complaint and awarded £524.64. It dismissed the complaint for October and November 2020 because the claimant’s employment had ended with effect from 7 October 2020, the initial October period was covered by payment in lieu of notice, and no wages were due after termination. It also upheld the September 2020 short-payment complaint, finding that the claimant should have received £1,692.00 but was paid £1,586.36, leaving a shortfall of £105.64.

On holiday pay, the tribunal considered the Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, Regulation 13(10) of the Working Time Regulations 1998, and whether it was reasonably practicable for the claimant to take leave because of Covid-19. It found that only the period from 23 March 2020 to 31 May 2020 fell within the relevant coronavirus-related carry-over window for the 2019 to 2020 holiday year, which produced four carry-over days rather than the 23 days claimed. The tribunal found carry-over was available for four days at £92.06 per day, awarding £368.24.

The tribunal also found that for the later period, 1 June 2020 to 7 October 2020, the claimant was entitled to 10 days’ holiday pay at the same daily rate, producing £920.60. The total payable by the respondent was £1,919.12. The tribunal noted that the claimant later raised the balance of the 19 days claimed as ordinary carry-over, but that was not part of the case it was asked to decide.