Mr B Lewis-Donaldson v Mastermind Group Ltd — 2023

The claimant, Mr B Lewis-Donaldson, was employed by Mastermind Group Ltd as an Artist Development Assistant from 30 May 2022 to 12 May 2023. His contract provided for a salary of £23,000 a year, equivalent to £1,916.66 gross per month or £442.31 gross per week. He complained on 5 May 2023 that he had not been paid correctly, and on 7 May 2023 Mr Eastwood emailed that he was dismissed as of 5 May 2023 and would be paid any outstanding salary up to 12 May 2023 as soon as practicable.

The respondent did not present an ET3 response on time. At the hearing on 30 October 2023, the tribunal refused a same-day postponement application under rule 30A and proceeded under rule 21. The tribunal did not make findings on the conduct matters mentioned by Mr Eastwood, because there was no response before it and the respondent was not permitted to participate in the hearing beyond clarification questions.

On the evidence before it, the tribunal found that between 1 March 2023 and 12 May 2023 the claimant was contractually entitled to £4,717.94, made up of salary and one week’s notice pay, but had only been paid £1,100, leaving a gross shortfall of £3,617.94. It held that the respondent had made an unauthorised deduction from wages and had also breached the contract by failing to pay one week’s notice pay, with the £442.31 notice element accounted for within the wages award.

The tribunal further found that the claimant had raised the unpaid wages issue verbally, by WhatsApp, and by email, but his complaints were ignored or met by dismissal rather than a grievance process. For that reason, it applied a 25% uplift under the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures, amounting to £904.49. The total gross award was therefore £4,522.43, and the tribunal stated that the award could be satisfied by payment of the net sum to the claimant and any tax and national insurance due to HMRC at source where applicable.