Mrs E Ivanova v Miss Y Tasheva and 1 other — 2021

Mrs E Ivanova brought claims for unlawful deduction of wages and unpaid holiday pay against Miss Y Tasheva and Tasheva Housekeeping Limited. The tribunal recorded that the case had been case-managed by Employment Judge Joffe, who directed the respondents to clarify alleged invoice inaccuracies, identify invoices said to have been paid in cash, and provide supporting bank or other evidence by 25 February 2021. Although the written case management order was not sent until 12 April 2021, an email from the tribunal on 19 February 2021 made clear that the 25 February deadline still stood.

At the CVP hearing on 22 April 2021, Employment Judge Henderson heard a strike-out application and found that the respondents had no reasonable prospect of success on the issue of the claimant’s status as a worker, referring to the Supreme Court’s Uber case. The judge also found that the respondents had conducted the proceedings in an unreasonable manner and had failed to actively pursue their defence. The response was struck out in its entirety under rule 37(1)(a)-(d) of the Employment Tribunal Rules 2013.

On remedy, the claimant provided an updated schedule of loss and the respondents produced no documentary evidence to challenge it. The tribunal awarded £6,639 gross for unpaid wages and £3,377.40 gross for unpaid holiday pay, making a total award of £10,016.40 gross. The respondents were required to account to HMRC for income tax and national insurance contributions as appropriate.