Miss E Knight v Tracey Broomhead t/a Kutz International — 2023

Miss E Knight brought claims for unlawful deduction from wages and unpaid annual leave/holiday pay against Tracey Broomhead t/a Kutz International. The respondent did not attend the final hearing and called no evidence, so the tribunal relied on the claimant's oral evidence and the documents in the bundle. The judge found the claimant to be credible and reliable, and gave little weight to the respondent's unsupported assertion that the claimant was a trainee whose contract was with a third-party training provider.

The tribunal found that the claimant worked for Kutz International as a trainee hairstylist on the basis of an oral arrangement under which she performed personal work and services for the business and was paid on a weekly basis. It rejected the respondent's case that she had started, or later converted to, an unpaid traineeship. On the evidence, the tribunal held that she was an employee or worker for the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Working Time Regulations 1998 and therefore entitled to bring both complaints.

For the wages claim, the tribunal found that the claimant's final payment had been received on 23 May 2022 and that she remained owed pay for 24 May 2022, her last completed day of service before resignation. That sum was accepted and was awarded in full at £48.10 gross. For holiday pay, the tribunal accepted that the claimant had not taken any of her accrued annual leave during the employment and that any leave taken had not been paid. The claimant's calculator-based figure of £182.01 gross was accepted and awarded in full.

The judgment therefore succeeded on both heads of claim and the respondent was ordered to pay a total of £230.11 gross, made up of £48.10 for unpaid wages and £182.01 for unpaid annual leave entitlement. The judgment notice also stated that interest would be payable if the sum remained unpaid after the relevant decision day, 28 February 2023, but no separate interest figure was determined in the judgment.