Mr Muhammad Bilal Rajput Mr Thishan Akmeemana v Sky UK Ltd By CVP — 2021

In the claims by Mr Rajput and Mr Akmeemana against Sky UK Ltd, the tribunal heard only a preliminary strike-out/deposit application and no live evidence. It accepted the claimants' evidence at its highest. The commission-scheme claim, concerning the replacement of the non-contractual Bounty scheme with a new retail commission scheme from 26 October 2018, was dismissed because the written terms and policy said the scheme was non-contractual, the scheme had been changed many times over the years, there was no arguable basis on the material before the tribunal for treating Bounty as contractual by custom and practice, and the claim could not in any event be quantified reliably.

The tribunal refused to strike out the Store Manager Allowance claim. Store managers had been told the allowance was £2,860 per annum and other terms would remain unchanged, but after the Store Manager role was removed on 25/26 October 2018 the parties disputed whether the allowance remained contractually payable and whether the claimants had continued to work under protest. The judge held those issues required evidence at a full hearing.

Two further claims were allowed to proceed: the s.188 TULR(C)A claim that Sky failed to inform and consult about the alleged redundancy situation created by removing the Store Manager role, and the s.146 TULR(C)A detriment claim concerning the decision to deal with grievances through the collective consultation process rather than the grievance procedure. On both, the tribunal said it could not say there was no or little reasonable prospect of success without hearing evidence.