Mrs R M Ghenea v SGL Labs Limited (formerly Solitaire Gemmological Laboratories Limited — 2021

Mrs R M Ghenea worked for SGL Labs Limited from 11 September 2017 until the end of December 2019, after tendering her resignation in September 2019. She brought a claim in February 2020 for unpaid December 2019 wages, the employer pension contribution for that month, and pay for two Sundays worked on 24 November and 15 December 2019.

The Respondent’s ET3 asserted that it had detected “manulpaltion” of attendance records, said it had deducted £1,770 from the Claimant’s final payment and paid a balance of £82.16, and asked for time to file a report. It did not comply with subsequent tribunal orders, did not produce the promised report, and did not appear at the hearing. The tribunal therefore relied on the Claimant’s documents and evidence, including her contracts, travel card records, WhatsApp logs, a covert recording with Mr Chirag Soni on 2 January 2020, and her payslip evidence.

The tribunal accepted that there was no supporting evidence that the Claimant had failed to attend work as alleged. It found that the evidence pointed the other way and noted that Mr Soni said on 2 January 2020 that he had no complaint about her work and described it as “a wonderful… a fantastic… an excellent job”. The tribunal also found that the Claimant had given valid notice on 18 September 2019, had not been in breach of contract, and that the Respondent therefore should not have made deductions from her December 2019 pay.

On remedy, the tribunal ordered payment of £1,700 gross for December 2019 salary, £35.64 for the pension contribution, and £156.92 for two days’ overtime at £78.46 per day. It also ordered £82.71 under section 24(2) ERA 1996 for the day’s holiday the Claimant had to take to attend the hearing, and gave credit for £86.92 already received towards December pay. The total amount ordered payable without deduction was £1,888.35.