Miss C. Patterson v Ms C. Goodburn Baker — 2022

The tribunal dismissed the unfair dismissal claim because the Claimant did not have sufficient length of service and the case was not one of automatic unfair dismissal. At the start of the hearing the Claimant also confirmed that the notice pay and holiday pay claims were not being pursued, so those claims were dismissed on withdrawal.

On the wages claim, the tribunal found that the Claimant was employed as an apprentice on an hourly basis rather than as a fixed rate employee paid an annual salary in equal instalments. It accepted that the first paid week of employment was the week commencing 12 October 2020, and it found the contractual terms were for 30 hours a week, but the furlough guidance required the reference salary to be based on average hours worked before furlough rather than on a 30-hour assumption.

For the period of furlough from 19 December 2020 to 12 April 2021, the tribunal found that the payments made on 3 February 2021, 1 March 2021 and 2 April 2021 covered only 12 of the 16 furlough weeks. It therefore found an unlawful deduction of four weeks' furlough pay, but it also found that using the average-hours method gave a weekly furlough figure of £62.25 and that the Claimant had in fact been paid £64.40, so there was no deduction on that point.

The tribunal also found that a deduction of £76.50 from the Claimant's pay on 30 April 2021 was unlawful because there was no written advance agreement. It was not satisfied, on the limited evidence available, that further unlawful deductions were proved for the period from 3 May 2021 to 4 June 2021. The total gross award was £342.10, comprising £265.60 for underpaid furlough pay and £76.50 for the separate deduction.