Emily King v Alder Rose Mortgage Services Ltd — 2021

Emily King was employed by Alder Rose Mortgage Services Ltd from 2 March 2020 as a Business Development Manager. Her contract provided for 23 days plus bank holidays of paid annual leave, and her salary increased from a gross annual rate of £19,000 to £21,000 in July 2020. The tribunal found that her last full day of work was 25 November 2020, that she left work early on 26 November because her grandmother was very ill, and that she did not return on 27 or 30 November. Those absences were found to be unauthorised and not taken as sick leave or annual leave.

The claimant resigned on 1 December 2020. Her final payslip showed gross accrued holiday pay of £1,015.38, a deduction of £161.54 for the two days she had not worked, and a deduction of £870.87 described as "CeMap" training costs. The tribunal held the respondent was entitled to recover the £161.54 because she had been overpaid for the two days of unauthorised absence, but it was not entitled to deduct the training costs because the contract did not authorise such a deduction and the claimant had not given written consent.

The tribunal therefore found an unlawful deduction from wages in the gross sum of £853.84 and ordered payment of that amount, subject to tax and national insurance deductions. The claimant's separate claim for £200 of borrowing charges was not proven and failed. The respondent's attempt to bring an employer's contract counterclaim was rejected for lack of jurisdiction because the claimant had not brought a breach of contract claim, and the tribunal made no costs order because there was no evidence of vexatious or unreasonable conduct.