Miss D Davies v Prosurance Ltd — 2019

Miss D Davies brought a claim in respect of arrears or wages against Prosurance Ltd. The respondent did not enter a response or attend the hearing. The claimant produced her final payslip showing a net total of £866.59 and gave evidence that she had in fact been paid only £400, leaving £466.59 unpaid. The tribunal accepted that evidence and found the arrears claim well-founded.

The claimant also showed that she had complained about the non-payment. She produced text messages sent to Christopher Pike between 6 August 2019 and 3 September 2019, and to Lewis Camilleri, a director of the respondent, between 12 August 2019 and 3 September 2019. The tribunal held that those messages amounted to a grievance about the failure to pay and therefore engaged ACAS Code of Practice 1 on disciplinary and grievance procedures.

The tribunal found that the respondent made a complete and unreasonable failure to comply with the Code. It noted that Mr Pike acknowledged the debt, Mr Camilleri told the claimant to wait for Mr Pike while he was on annual leave and said, "I am very busy. Stop messaging me!", and the respondent then did nothing further about the complaint. On that basis, the tribunal applied s.207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and increased the award by the full 25% uplift.

The award was calculated as £466.59 arrears of wages plus a £116.65 s.207A uplift, making a total of £583.24. The judgment ordered payment on or before 3 January 2020. The attached interest notice recorded that interest would apply under the Employment Tribunals (Interest) Order 1990 if the award was not paid within 14 days after the decision was sent, but no separate interest sum was set out in the judgment itself.