Mr M Georgiev v Milegate Ltd — 2023

Mr Georgiev brought a claim for unauthorised deduction from wages against Milegate Ltd. He said he had been paid £400 net per week, but that the respondent had told HMRC his pay was higher and that he had been underpaid, including in March 2020. The tribunal heard the final hearing in the absence of both parties after refusing a further postponement, and determined the case on the claim form, response, payslips and the respondent director’s witness statement.

The tribunal found that, whatever had been declared to HMRC, the claimant was routinely and normally paid £1,733.33 net per month, which equated to £400 per week. It found that this was the amount the claimant normally expected to be paid and that it was more likely than not that the verbal agreement between the parties was for net pay of £400 per week. The tribunal accepted that the March 2020 payslip showed a lower net payment of £1,611.53, but it did not find on the evidence that this amounted to an unlawful deduction, noting the respondent’s evidence that parking ticket deductions had been repaid and that there was no evidence before it of any unrepaid deduction.

The tribunal also held that, if there had been an underpayment in March 2020, the claim would still have been out of time under s.23 ERA 1996. It said the claim was presented on 22 February 2021, well beyond the three-month time limit, and that the claimant had not shown that it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim in time. It therefore dismissed the unauthorised deduction from wages claim as not well-founded.

The tribunal recorded that the respondent had failed to provide a written statement of particulars of employment in breach of s.1 ERA 1996, but held that no award under s.38 Employment Act 2002 arose because the claimant had not succeeded on the wages claim.