Mr P Buckingham v West-O Hygiene Solutions Ltd — 2021

Mr Buckingham was employed as Business Development and Marketing Manager from 24 January 2019 until his dismissal on 22 March 2019. The tribunal found that a conversation with Mr T Thomas at the end of February or beginning of March 2019 about the importation of hazardous materials amounted to a protected disclosure for the purposes of s.103A, s.43A and s.43B ERA 1996, but it did not accept that the disclosure was the reason or principal reason for dismissal. The tribunal accepted that the respondent genuinely relied on missed sales targets and concerns about conduct, and it found no causal link between the disclosure and the dismissal, so the unfair dismissal claim was dismissed.

On pay, the tribunal found there had been an agreement that the first six days in January 2019 were training and would not be paid, so there was no unlawful deduction or breach of contract for that period. For March 2019, it found the claimant was entitled to gross pay of £1,948.93 for 29 out of 31 days, including one week's notice, and that he had been paid £700. The tribunal accepted that the respondent was entitled under the contract to deduct £437.38 in respect of unreturned property and lock changes, but after those deductions a gross balance of £811.55 remained unpaid. It therefore upheld the unlawful deduction from wages and breach of contract claims in that sum, subject to deductions for tax and national insurance.