Mr Clarence Hills v Kavanagh Motor Group Ltd — 2019

Mr Clarence Hills brought claims for unlawful deductions from wages, breach of contract and unfair dismissal against Kavanagh Motor Group Limited. The respondent did not attend, but its ET3 admitted that £345.58 had been deducted from the claimant's wages. The tribunal found that £110 of that sum related to a parking fine and that the remainder was unpaid wages, so it entered judgment for £345.58 gross, subject to lawful deductions.

The tribunal rejected the breach of contract claim. It read the claimant's contract of employment and found that the respondent had contractual power to terminate on one week's notice or by payment in lieu of notice. The claimant accepted that he had received payment in lieu, so the tribunal held that there was no breach of contract; it added that, if it was wrong about that, the claimant had already received the measure of damages to which he would have been entitled.

The unfair dismissal complaint did not proceed to a substantive merits determination. The claimant accepted that he did not have sufficient qualifying service, withdrew the complaint, and the tribunal dismissed it upon withdrawal.