Mr John Joseph v Care Advocates Limited — 2022

Mr John Joseph was employed by Care Advocates Limited as Registered Manager from 6 April 2020 to 25 March 2021. The tribunal found that, by the end of February 2021, Mr Joseph and Mr Lewis Khaka had agreed that the employment would continue until 25 March 2021 so that the CQC registration process would not be adversely affected. The tribunal also found that Mr Joseph remained ready and willing to work for the purposes of Beveridge v KLM UK Ltd, even though Mr Loval took over most of the day-to-day role and the tribunal found that only limited work was done in March 2021.

On the pay claim, the tribunal found that the increase in salary to £32,000 applied to the whole of March 2021 once the respondent became CQC registered on 6 March 2021. It held that Mr Joseph was entitled to be paid his full salary to 25 March 2021, and that the amount actually paid on 31 March 2021 was short by £1,192.10 gross. The tribunal therefore upheld the unlawful deduction from wages claim for March salary.

On holiday pay, the tribunal found that the claimant took 15 days' annual leave in the holiday year running from 4 April 2020, comprising leave in December 2020, February 2021 and the first two weeks of March 2021. It rejected the respondent's hourly calculations, found that 22 days' leave had accrued, and concluded that 7 days remained unpaid at termination. Using £30,000 as the best approximation of earnings over the previous 12 months, and a daily rate of £192, the tribunal awarded £1,344 gross for accrued untaken holiday. It declined to award interest on payday loans because there was no documentary evidence, and it made no uplift for an alleged ACAS Code failure because it found no unreasonable failure to follow the Code.