Mr K Omonbo v Nella Cutlery South Ltd — 2020

Mr K Omonbo worked for Nella Cutlery South Ltd as an International Driver from 28 August 2018 until he resigned on 29 April 2019. The tribunal recorded that his unfair dismissal claim had already been struck out, and that at the hearing he was pursuing only a claim for unpaid overtime while the respondent pursued a counterclaim for overpaid holiday pay.

The tribunal held that the claimant was not entitled to be paid for the period spent driving home after his last customer of the day. On the evidence and contractual documents, his work finished when he completed the last customer, and the journey from there to home was treated as commuting rather than working time. The tribunal also found that overtime was only payable when authorised by the respondent. Although some overtime had clearly been authorised and paid, the claimant did not show that additional claimed hours had been authorised, and his own schedule was found to be inaccurate because he had rounded hours and had no independent records.

The tribunal rejected the claimant's assertion that all overtime was payable at £25 per hour. It found that the contract provided for overtime at £9.09 per hour, with a separate £25 flat rate for an additional overnight, and that the claimant had not identified any contractual document setting a general overtime rate of £25 per hour. On that basis, the unlawful deduction from wages claim failed.

On the counterclaim, the tribunal found that the claimant had taken 19 days' holiday in the 2019 holiday year, but had accrued only 8 days by the end of his employment. That meant he had taken 11 days more than accrued. The respondent had already deducted £799.92 from final pay, which covered 8 excess days rather than 11, so the tribunal ordered the claimant to repay the remaining overpayment of £299.97.