Mr Kamel Lardjani v Elior UK plc — 2019

The tribunal considered claims for unlawful deduction from wages and breach of contract arising from alleged unpaid overtime at the end of the claimant's employment, together with a holiday pay claim added at the hearing. The claimant later accepted that he was not owed any outstanding holiday pay and withdrew that claim.

The tribunal found that 203 hours paid in March 2019 related to earlier overtime worked before 17 March 2019, and that for the remaining period from 18 March 2019 to 27 April 2019 the claimant's own contemporaneous handwritten record was the most reliable evidence of hours worked. Using that record, the tribunal found that 157.5 hours of daytime overtime were due beyond the claimant's contractual hours, and that the respondent in May 2019 paid 157.5 hours at the standard rate plus 14.5 hours at time and a half, reflecting 172 hours of overtime in total.

On the disputed pay rate, the tribunal accepted Mr Symons' evidence that he had not agreed to pay double time and that any enhanced-rate agreement was limited. It found, on the balance of probabilities, that the agreement to pay 1.5 times the hourly rate applied only to the 14.5 hours already paid at that rate. The tribunal therefore concluded that the claimant had been paid for the overtime hours he worked at the correct rate and that there had been no underpayment.