Mr H Ustek v Food Works Turkish Kitchen — 2022

Mr H Ustek was employed by Food Works Turkish Kitchen as a chef from 1 August 2018. The parties agreed that he worked on a casual, zero-hours basis and that he did no work for the respondent between March and July 2020. His case was that he should have been paid 80% of his salary during that period under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The tribunal identified the key issue as whether there had been an agreement between the parties, in writing or confirmed in writing, bringing Mr Ustek within the Scheme definition of a furloughed employee. It noted paragraph 6.7 of the Treasury Direction and the later change on 22 May 2020 allowing an agreement to be confirmed in writing by the employer. The tribunal also recorded that, as a matter of law, there was no free-standing right to be furloughed.

On the evidence, the claimant said there was no written furlough agreement and that he had been left to his own devices. The respondent's owner, Mr Kalendar Akcadag, said the respondent was not entitled to participate in the Scheme, had not furloughed staff, and had not received Scheme money. The tribunal accepted that evidence and found as a fact that there was no agreement in writing, or confirmed in writing, that the claimant would be furloughed.

Because there was no such agreement, the tribunal found that Mr Ustek was not a furloughed employee for the purposes of the Scheme and had no entitlement to be paid by the respondent for the period claimed. The combined claim for unlawful deduction from wages and/or breach of contract was therefore not well-founded and was dismissed.