Miss S Stevenson v Orbit Energy Ltd — 2020

Miss S Stevenson was employed by Orbit Energy Ltd as an Area Sales Manager from 29 October 2018 until she resigned on 18 March 2019. Her claim alleged outstanding commission payments and an increase in basic salary. The tribunal recorded that her offer letter and contract provided for a basic salary of £40,000, a possible increase to £45,000 if she successfully implemented an Orbit Energy office consisting of 20 sales agents together with ongoing and continued achievement of sales performance targets, and commission of £5 per fuel for each successful customer that commenced supply.

The tribunal found that the respondent’s commission policy paid commission only on sales that successfully completed, with no commission where verification failed or where incorrect customer information meant the sale did not go live. It accepted the respondent’s evidence that sales could fail for those reasons and that no commission was paid on failed sales. On the evidence before it, the claimant was not able to identify unpaid sales commissions with sufficient proof, and the tribunal held she had not discharged the burden of proving any unpaid commission was properly due.

On the salary increase issue, the tribunal found that the claimant had not established that her office ever had 20 or more active sales agents at the end of any calendar month, and that she had not proved ongoing and continued achievement of the relevant sales targets. It also noted that the contract provided for salary review annually around 1 July, and her employment ended before July 2019. The tribunal therefore held that the conditions for the increase to £45,000 were not met.

Applying section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal concluded that the claimant had not shown that she had been paid less than wages properly payable to her. The complaint of unauthorised deductions from wages was therefore unsuccessful and was dismissed.