Miss Graham in person (by CVP) For the v Mr Ben Healey T/a The Blue Bell Inn — 2021

The claimant worked for the respondent's public house as front of house staff under a verbal contract which began as a 40-hour apprenticeship from 23 October 2019. The tribunal found that her hours were reduced in January 2020 to 30 per week, that this variation was accepted, and that her hourly rate remained £5. When the pub closed during the first Covid-19 lockdown, the parties agreed an informal furlough arrangement under which the claimant would be paid 80% of contracted pay, or £120 per week, and could still be called in to work from time to time.

On the evidence, the tribunal accepted the respondent's payment schedule and found that some weeks' work had been paid at the normal hourly rate of £5, but that the balance due under the informal furlough arrangement had not been paid. The tribunal found that for the relevant 15-week period the claimant was entitled to £1,916.84 in total, had received £584.20, and therefore suffered an unlawful deduction of £1,332.64. It ordered that sum to be paid. The tribunal recorded that there was no further claim for consequential loss.

The claimant also argued that the whole calculation should have been based on a 40-hour working week by reference to her apprenticeship agreement. The tribunal rejected that further limb. It found that any complaint about the January 2020 change to 30 hours was out of time, and that in any event the variation had been accepted by performance rather than expressly rejected. The decision was therefore limited to the successful unlawful deduction claim.