Mr S Miah v Zaara Leigh On Sea Ltd — 2022

Mr S Miah worked for Zaara Leigh On Sea Ltd as a chef from June 2019 under a verbal agreement for 24 hours per week at the National Minimum Wage. He was paid weekly in cash and received monthly pay statements. When the first national lockdown was announced on 22 March 2020, Mr Bari told him to go home because the restaurant was closing.

The tribunal found that Mr Miah remained entitled to be paid as normal because he was ready, willing and able to work. It accepted that he verbally agreed in April 2020 to accept the lower furlough-rate pay of £157.63 per week, but found that he was not paid at all after March 2020. Mr Bari’s account that he had paid him later in cash or by bank transfer was not accepted, and the documents produced did not corroborate the respondent’s account.

The tribunal rejected the respondent’s case that the employment ended on 31 May 2020, whether by resignation or notice. It found that no notice was given, that the P45 dated 31 May 2020 had not been shown to have been received by Mr Miah, and that his employment continued until at least 31 August 2020. Once he started new employment on 1 September 2020 he was no longer ready, willing and able to work for the respondent, so he was not entitled to pay after that date.

The result was an unlawful deduction from wages for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 August 2020, calculated at £157.63 per week for 21 weeks and 5 days, producing £3,404.81 gross. The tribunal also found that the respondent had failed to provide a written statement of particulars of employment and made the statutory award of two weeks’ pay, being £315.26.