Mrs L Hardy v Absolute Services (North East) Limited — 2019

The tribunal upheld the claimant's complaint of unauthorised deductions from wages under section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It found that Absolute Services (North East) Limited unilaterally reduced her hours of work from 30 each week to 18 each week, with her weekly pay falling from £244.80 to £153.00. The resulting loss of £91.80 per week continued for 15 weeks, from 27 August 2018 until her resignation on 7 December 2018, and the respondent was ordered to pay £1,377.00, calculated by reference to gross pay. The judgment states that any income tax and employee national insurance liability on that sum was the claimant's responsibility, and that the Recoupment Regulations did not apply.

The tribunal also upheld the claimant's unfair dismissal complaint. It treated her resignation as a dismissal within section 95(1)(c) ERA 1996, on the basis that she had terminated the contract without notice in response to the respondent's conduct, and held that dismissal unfair under sections 94 and 98 of the Act. Compensation for that claim was fixed at £1,268.00, made up of a basic award of £918.00, calculated as 6 x £153.00, and a compensatory award of £350.00 for loss of statutory rights only, because no other loss was found to have been suffered as a consequence of the dismissal.