Mr R Baseby v S.K. Landscapes and Maintenance Limited — 2024

The tribunal dismissed the unfair dismissal claim because it had no jurisdiction. The claimant started employment on 22 April 2021 and the effective date of termination was 3 April 2023, so he did not have sufficient qualifying service to bring the claim.

The tribunal then considered the wages claim. It held that the written contract, including the incorporated job description, pointed to an annual salary arrangement rather than hourly pay only. The contract provided for a gross starting salary of £23,205.00, described as £10.50 per hour for all hours worked, with 42.5 hours per week, overtime at time and a half, and annual salary review provisions. The tribunal found that the timesheets were used to track work and overtime and did not show that staff were paid only for the hours actually worked.

Applying that construction, the tribunal found the claimant should have been paid a salary calculated by reference to the contractual weekly hours and the later pay increases in June 2021, September 2021 and May 2022. It identified underpayments in several months between June 2021 and March 2023 and assessed the gross shortfall at £1,682.23. It ordered the respondent to pay that sum, less deductions for taxation, and said the same failure to pay correctly would alternatively amount to breach of contract.