Mr K Maddox v Cathedral Pallet Trucks — 2020

Mr K Maddox brought a claim for unlawful deduction from wages against Cathedral Pallet Trucks, alleging unpaid overtime on dates between 28 January and 18 March 2020. The tribunal applied section 13(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It heard evidence from the claimant and from Mr Trott for the respondent. The claimant relied on his contract of employment, diary extracts, timesheets and emails; the respondent produced no documents for the hearing.

The tribunal accepted the claimant's evidence for 28 January, 3 February, 13 February and 4 March 2020. It found that he had worked additional hours on those dates, including early starts, workshop attendance and travel connected with the work, and that he was entitled to overtime for those periods. It was satisfied with the claimant's oral evidence and the supporting diary entries, and on 4 March it accepted that he had gone into the workshop at 4.45am, meaning half an hour that had been deducted should have been paid.

The tribunal rejected the remaining claimed dates because it was not satisfied that overtime had been worked beyond the claimant's normal working day and travel time. It found that on the other disputed dates the evidence showed he had returned home within his normal travelling time or had finished the job with sufficient time to do so. The conclusions section refers once to 11 March, although the detailed factual discussion addresses 7 March; the overall result remained that only part of the overtime claim succeeded.

The claimant had claimed £85 in overtime. The tribunal awarded £60 as a well-founded unlawful deduction from wages claim. The judgment does not set out a separate split between dates in the monetary award.