Ms C Ibbotson (Counsel) For the v Respondent — 2019

Mr A Huddart brought claims for unlawful deduction from wages under s.13 ERA 1996 and, in the alternative, breach of contract. The tribunal found that in December 2017 Mr Connaughton, whom it accepted had authority to bind the respondent, offered the claimant a promotion to Head of Global Sales on the basis of pay of £108,000 per year. It accepted that the parties discussed contractor status, but found the settled agreement was the £108,000 rate rather than a £160,000 employee salary.

The tribunal rejected the respondent's case that any pay promise was conditional on the claimant becoming a contractor. It found that both Mr Connaughton and the claimant were mistaken about the legal effect of a self-employed contract, but that this did not prevent a binding pay agreement being made and accepted. It also rejected the suggestion that £160,000 had been agreed as an alternative if contractor status did not proceed, finding that later emails showed Mr Connaughton trying to persuade others within the respondent to approve different arrangements, not evidence of a prior agreement with the claimant.

On remedy, the tribunal accepted the parties' schedule of loss on the basis of the agreed £108,000 rate against the £95,000 actually paid. It calculated an annual underpayment of £13,000, or £1,083.33 per month, and found gross losses of £8,666.64 for the period 1 January 2018 to 31 August 2019. The judgment states that the unlawful deduction claim succeeded in part and that the alternative breach of contract claim also succeeded in part, with the same award. The award was expressed as gross and subject to the normal PAYE deductions.