Mr Muaadh Khan v Rail Power & Construction Limited — 2023

Mr Khan brought a claim for unlawful deductions from wages for dates in July and September 2022. The tribunal found there was no written agreement governing the relationship, but concluded there was an implied contract under the sponsorship arrangement. It held that there was no contract of employment because there was no mutuality of obligation: the respondent was not obliged to offer work and the claimant was not obliged to accept it. The claimant was nevertheless a worker because he was required to perform the work personally under the Sentinel scheme and sponsorship system.

For the July dates, the tribunal accepted the Sentinel swipe system as an accurate record of whether the claimant worked on site. It found that he did not work on 11 July 2022 or 13 July 2022, but did work at Shrewsbury on 14 July 2022. The respondent had not paid him for any of those dates, and the tribunal held that the claim succeeded only in relation to 14 July 2022. It ordered the respondent to pay £140 gross, subject to deduction of tax and national insurance properly payable.

For the September dates, the claimant accepted that the respondent was not his primary sponsor and accepted that he did not work on site on 24, 25, 26 or 28 September 2022. He said he had travelled to Inverness and remained available, but the tribunal found there was no contractual basis requiring payment where he attended a site but did not work. It therefore dismissed the claim for those dates.