Farzan Haji Khani v APG Recruitment Ltd and 1 other — 2020

The tribunal proceeded in the absence of both respondents and accepted Mr Haji Khani's oral evidence as truthful. It found that he worked for APG as an agency worker and that CrediPay also employed him for payroll purposes, so both respondents were jointly and severally liable. The tribunal rejected the suggestion that he was self-employed or that the contract wording excluded holiday pay.

The sick pay claim for two weeks in July 2019 was out of time, but the tribunal allowed it under s.23(4) ERA 1996 because Mr Haji Khani had only recently come to the UK, spoke limited English, and did not know he might claim until about December 2019. It accepted that he had been absent as claimed and awarded £696, being two weeks at £348 per week.

On holiday pay, the tribunal accepted that he had not been paid for any time away from work. It found that eight months' work produced about 3.75 weeks' entitlement and that the claimant's calculation using the government website was more accurate than the tribunal's approximate figure, so it awarded £1,330. For the weekly deductions, the tribunal found no evidence authorising deductions and accepted that £17.65 a week had been taken, totalling £706; it also noted that the apprenticeship levy is payable by employers, not employees. The total award was £2,732, jointly and severally against both respondents.