Ms H Ghafoor v K2 Prestige Ltd — 2021

The claimant was employed by K2 Prestige Ltd from 15 April 2019 to 4 April 2020 as an office administrator, initially at £10 per hour and from November 2019 at £400 per week. The tribunal found that she was not given a written contract or written statement of employment particulars. Although a reference to unfair dismissal appeared in her witness statement, she confirmed that she was not pursuing that claim and did not apply to amend her case.

The tribunal found that the respondent did not pay wages regularly. There were no payments in April or May 2019, then intermittent payments later in the year, including payments in September, October, and December 2019 and a net payment in March 2020. It held that the claimant was an employee and therefore also a worker, and that the claim was in time because the deductions formed a series within the meaning of Bear Scotland v Fulton; the September and October payments did not break the link in the series.

On the merits, the tribunal found that the claimant was entitled to gross wages of £18,412.79 for the period 15 April 2019 to 4 April 2020, and that she had been paid £8,826 gross, leaving a shortfall of £9,586.79. It ordered that sum to be paid as unauthorised deductions from wages, and also awarded £393.06 under section 24(2) ERA 1996 for overdraft charges caused by the failure to pay wages properly. It further awarded £800 under section 38 Employment Act 2002 because no written statement of employment particulars had been provided. The tribunal also found that the claimant was dismissed on 4 April 2020.