Miss C Nuttall v Prosurance Solutions Ltd — 2020

Miss Nuttall was employed by Prosurance Solutions Ltd from 14 October 2019 until she was dismissed by WhatsApp message on 4 January 2020. The tribunal dealt with claims for unpaid December 2019 wages, notice pay, one day of unpaid holiday pay for 1 January 2020, and commission or bonus. The respondent made a payment of £1,794.24 on 27 July 2020, but the tribunal did not treat that as a complete answer to the claims.

For December pay, the tribunal accepted the payslip dated 5 January 2020 as the only reliable evidence of the amount due and found an unlawful deduction from wages of £1,500 gross. It rejected the respondent's evidence that the payslip was incorrect. On holiday entitlement, the tribunal interpreted the contract as giving 28 working days' holiday plus bank holidays, because the clause said the employee was 'also' entitled to public and bank holidays. On that basis, it found the claimant was entitled to £75 gross for 1 January 2020 and that this sum was also unlawfully deducted.

The tribunal found a breach of contract in relation to notice because the contract gave the claimant four weeks' notice and she was dismissed without any notice. It limited damages to £750 gross because she obtained new employment after two weeks, so her loss was only for that period. The commission or bonus claim was dismissed: the claimant could not prove the amount due, and the tribunal found the evidence showed payment was only due if the respondent had itself been paid for the relevant claim, which had not happened. The tribunal fixed the total award at £2,325 gross, subject to deductions for tax and national insurance, and allowed the respondent to set off the £1,794.24 already paid.