Mr John Craig v Abellio Limited — 2020

Mr Craig resigned on 20 July 2019 after a grievance appeal had found that he was owed £6,144.04 in sick-pay arrears, but the tribunal held that Abellio's failure to make the payment on 19 July was a last-minute administrative mistake rather than conduct going to the root of the contract. Applying section 95 ERA 1996 and Western Excavating v Sharp, the tribunal dismissed the constructive dismissal claim. It also dismissed the breach of contract claim.

On unlawful deductions, the tribunal held that claims arising from the first and second sickness periods were out of time because the gaps between the periods broke any series of deductions under section 23(3) ERA 1996 and Bear Scotland. For the third sickness period beginning in February 2019, it accepted that Mr Craig was effectively working about 40 hours over four days and that sick pay should be calculated by reference to his average earnings. Using a gross average of £550.38 per week, the tribunal found a net sick-pay shortfall of £1,729.14 after tax and national insurance, plus a separate net bonus shortfall of £122.40.

The holiday-pay claim was dismissed because the tribunal found no shortfall on termination for the 2019 holiday year and held that earlier holiday-pay claims were time-barred by the two-year limit in the Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014. The added itemised pay statement claim was also dismissed under section 8 ERA 1996. The tribunal awarded £1,851.54 in total and said there was no power to award interest on those sums, so no remedy hearing was needed.