Mrs Y Zhang v EcoCell Store Ltd and 1 other — 2022

The tribunal found that the claimant started work for both respondents on 15 October 2021 as a bookkeeper on an oral contract reflected in the Heads of Terms. It accepted that the parties later agreed in late November 2021 that she would work three days or 24 hours per week, and it rejected the respondents' QuickBooks-based challenge to whether she had in fact worked those hours. The tribunal held that the claim for unpaid wages over the period 22 November 2021 to 26 January 2022 was in time because the deductions formed a single series, and it awarded £1,440 gross. It also upheld a second unlawful-deduction claim for the payroll period 6 to 19 February 2022, awarding £288 gross.

On the notice-pay issue, the tribunal construed the inconsistent notice provisions in the written contract by giving precedence to the bespoke statutory information section. It held that the claimant was entitled to two weeks' notice, not one week, and that she was paid only £288 gross for a notice period worth £864 gross. Judgment was therefore entered for £576 gross for breach of contract. On annual leave, the tribunal found that leave accrued from 15 October 2021 until the actual termination date of 23 February 2022, that two weeks' leave remained untaken, and that after £558 already paid there was a further £306 due.

The tribunal also accepted that a PAYE refund of £84 appeared on the claimant's payslip and had not been paid, and it treated that as an unlawful deduction from wages. It rejected the additional overtime, PAYE/NI deductions, and £1,152 claims because they were not raised in the ET1 and, in any event, failed on the evidence. The pension auto-enrolment claim was dismissed because the tribunal held that it had no jurisdiction to determine it. The judgment was against both respondents jointly and severally for a total of £2,694, made up of the five successful monetary awards.