Case 1807582/2019 · Employment Tribunal
In person For the v Mr Michael Higgins — 2020
- Case reference
- 1807582/2019
- Decision date
- 5 March 2020
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Davies Appearances
- Venue
- Hull
Parties
2 namedClaimant
In person For the
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe Respondent did not present a response to the claims, and the tribunal was satisfied it was appropriate to issue judgment under Rule 21 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure. The judgment records that the claim forms had been served at the premises where the Claimants worked and at another pub run by the Respondent. The tribunal also noted that the Respondent may have been in hospital and that he could ask for the judgment to be set aside if appropriate.
The Claimants' complaints of unauthorised deduction from wages were all well founded. Mr Russell succeeded in respect of two weeks' work in September 2019 and was awarded £1,040 gross. Mrs Coleman succeeded in respect of 49.5 hours worked and was awarded £406.40 gross. Mrs Dean succeeded in respect of £323 for July 2019, £1,170 for August 2019 and £1,170 for September 2019, including two weeks' holiday pay, and was awarded £2,663 gross.
The tribunal found that Mr Russell and Mrs Dean were employees of the Respondent and that he had not provided them with written contracts of employment, despite repeated requests. No exceptional circumstances were identified that would make an award unjust or inequitable. The tribunal therefore considered it just and equitable to award the higher sum of four weeks' pay rather than two weeks' pay.
On that basis, Mr Russell was awarded a further £2,080 and Mrs Dean was awarded a further £1,080. The judgment does not record any award for Mrs Coleman in relation to written contracts. The total awards recorded in the judgment come to £7,269.40 gross.
Claims and outcomes
5 findings recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unlawful deduction from wages | Mr Russell's complaint of unauthorised deduction from wages succeeded for two weeks' work in September 2019. | Upheld | — | £1,040 |
| Unlawful deduction from wages | Mrs Coleman's complaint of unauthorised deduction from wages succeeded for 49.5 hours worked. | Upheld | — | £406 |
| Unlawful deduction from wages | Mrs Dean's complaint of unauthorised deduction from wages succeeded for July 2019, August 2019, and September 2019, including two weeks' holiday pay. | Upheld | — | £2,663 |
| Other | Further award to Mr Russell for the Respondent's failure to provide written contracts of employment, after repeated requests; the tribunal awarded four weeks' pay. | Upheld | — | £2,080 |
| Other | Further award to Mrs Dean for the Respondent's failure to provide written contracts of employment, after repeated requests; the tribunal awarded four weeks' pay. | Upheld | — | £1,080 |
Remedy
Monetary award- Total award
- £7,269
- across all upheld claims
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
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