Mr C Lee v Oaktree Childcare Limited — 2023

The tribunal first held that the respondent's response was presented in time at 15:26 on 25 May 2023, so it was entitled to defend the claim at the final hearing. The substantive claim was for unlawful deduction from wages under section 13 Employment Rights Act 1996.

The tribunal found that on 31 March 2023 the claimant's payslip showed a £1,200 balance remaining on a £1,500 employee loan agreed by signed agreement on 2 February 2023, and that only a single agreed monthly instalment of £300 should have been deducted. The deduction of £900 was therefore an overdeduction and an unlawful deduction from wages.

The tribunal also found that the claimant gave notice of resignation with immediate effect at 08:10 on 31 March 2023, without working contractual notice, and that the loan agreement provided for the balance to become immediately repayable on termination. On that basis, the tribunal held that the claimant suffered no ongoing loss.

Although the tribunal said that, in principle, the £900 could have been paid to the claimant and then recovered by the respondent as a civil debt, it concluded that this would not be in the interests of justice and would create unnecessary and disproportionate additional expense under Rule 2. The claim was therefore well founded, but no monetary award was made.