Mr B Craske v Exact Engineers Limited — 2020

The tribunal heard four discrete issues in a short-track claim about deductions from wages and holiday pay. It found that Mr Craske was not employed under a qualifying apprenticeship for National Minimum Wage purposes because the agreement did not specify the amount of off-the-job training or the practical period required by the apprenticeship regulations, and it did not fall within the other statutory apprenticeship routes. He was therefore entitled to the age-specific minimum wage rather than £3.70 per hour, and the shortfall up to the week ending 8 March 2019 was £2,197.88 gross.

On the notice-period issue, the tribunal held that the claimant's 7 April 2019 resignation email was ambiguous as to timing, accepted that he was working his contractual two-week notice, and found that employment ended on 21 April 2019. Because section 87(4) ERA 1996 disapplied the statutory notice-pay provision on the facts found, the amount due for the notice-period sickness element agreed between the parties was £131.95 gross.

The holiday-pay claim failed. The tribunal calculated accrued leave at 2.12 weeks, or 11 days, over the 138-day employment period, and found that the claimant had already taken 11 days of paid annual leave. It therefore concluded that no accrued but untaken holiday remained payable under regulation 16 of the Working Time Regulations 1998.

For the unpaid-wages issue relating to 11 March to 5 April 2019, the tribunal found that the respondent had no established basis for withholding pay because of the tools dispute. It rejected the suggested contractual deductions for loss or damage, found no proven damage to the tools, and awarded the claimant the NMW shortfall for that period. The final total award was £3,716.11 gross.