Mrs C. Nolan v IELTS Medical Ltd — 2019

The claimant brought claims for unpaid wages, holiday pay and notice arising from her work as an English tutor for IELTS Medical Ltd. The respondent conceded before the hearing that £1,436 was owed on part of the wages and holiday pay claims, but the remaining dispute turned on whether the claimant had been paid for all the hours she said she worked in November and December 2018.

On unpaid wages, the tribunal accepted that the documentary evidence from both sides was incomplete and that neither side had proper timesheets. It preferred the claimant's account on the remaining disputed 6 hours, noting that her emails at the end of November were straightforward and helpful, while the respondent had little detail about the relevant students and had delayed before admitting underpayment. It awarded £120, being 6 hours at £20 per hour.

The notice claim failed. Applying the statutory distinction between employee and worker, and citing Ready Mixed Concrete and Carmichael v National Power plc, the tribunal found insufficient evidence that the claimant was working under a contract of employment as of 10 December 2018, rather than under hours agreed from time to time. It also said that, even if a contract of employment had existed for more than one month, it was not clear that it had ended other than by mutual agreement, and in any event the evidence did not establish a statutory right to notice. No order was therefore made on that claim.

On holiday pay, the tribunal applied the Working Time Regulations and the statutory approach to holiday accrual and a week's pay under section 224 ERA 1996. It found that the claimant had 33 hours' holiday pay outstanding at £20 per hour, giving £660, and deducted £396 already paid shortly before the hearing. The balance awarded for holiday pay was £264.