Mr D Crabtree v JPG Staff (UK) Limited — 2022

The tribunal found that the claimant, Mr D Crabtree, was employed from 24 February 2020 and later transferred within the Emerald group before the respondent, JPG Staff (UK) Limited, took over the business. His contract provided for salary of £35,000, one month's notice, a commission arrangement at 3% of profit margin on new billable business, and a £300 car allowance. He was furloughed during part of 2020, and the tribunal accepted that he played a substantial role in introducing One Heritage business, but found no commission was payable because no profit was made on that work. It also rejected an alleged £300 bonus because no agreement to pay it was proved. The separate redundancy pay claim had already been struck out on 23 September 2021 because the claimant lacked two years' service.

Automatic unfair dismissal was dismissed. The tribunal found no evidence that the claimant was dismissed because he had asserted statutory rights about pension contributions or deductions from wages, and it rejected the suggestion that a complaint about commission caused the dismissal. It found that the relationship between the claimant and Mr Joseph had broken down, with performance concerns and dissatisfaction with pay and benefits forming the real background to the termination. The tribunal also found that the proposed redundancy arrangement of December 2020 did not take effect as an actual redundancy termination on 5 January 2021.

On unlawful deductions from wages, the tribunal rejected the furlough-top-up claim and the claimed deductions relating to commission and bonus. It found that the March 2020 pay position was not proved to be an unlawful deduction on the evidence, but held that an unexplained deduction of £495.04 from the claimant's final salary payment was unlawful. It also recorded that some employee pension contributions had not been paid into the scheme and that employer pension contributions were not paid, but held that non-payment of employer pension contributions was not a deduction from wages and was outside the tribunal's jurisdiction for that claim.

Wrongful dismissal succeeded. The tribunal held that the claimant should have been given one month's notice from the genuine termination date of 29 January 2021, so he was entitled to remain employed until 28 February 2021, not 5 February 2021. It ordered the respondent to pay £2,916.67 gross and also ordered payment of the car allowance and employer pension contribution for the period 20 January 2021 to 28 February 2021. The judgment also noted that the respondent was in insolvency administration and that payment of any award might be affected.