Mr P Tsangouris v Dimitrios Mousiaris Transport Limited — 2024

Mr P Tsangouris brought a single claim for unauthorised deductions from wages. The respondent filed a response form but did not attend the final hearing and gave no reasons for defending the claim. The tribunal proceeded in the respondent’s absence under rule 47 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2013.

The claimant gave sworn evidence through a Greek interpreter. He said he had not been paid the amount shown on his March 2023 payslip, which was £3,176.67 gross, and that he had also not been paid for 5 days in April 2023. The tribunal recorded that he had worked four of those days and that on the other day the respondent had failed to provide him with work. There was no evidence from the respondent to contradict his account and no evidence that any deduction was authorised.

Applying section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, including the definition of wages in section 27 and the approach in New Century Cleaning Co Ltd v Church, the tribunal accepted the claimant’s evidence and found that he had not been paid wages to which he was entitled for the whole of March 2023 and for the 5 days in April 2023. It accepted his calculation that the April sum due was £600 gross, based on an hourly rate of £11 plus allowances for nights out and meals.

Judgment was entered for £3,776.67 gross, comprising £3,176.67 for March 2023 and £600 for April 2023. The tribunal also told the claimant that, because the case was for unpaid wages, it could not award compensation for the respondent’s conduct towards him and his wife. A separate interest notice stated that interest would be payable only if the award remained unpaid after the relevant decision day.