Mrs Karamjeet Kaur Gill v Elegance Beauty Ltd — 2020

Mrs Karamjeet Kaur Gill brought a claim for unlawful deductions from wages against Elegance Beauty Ltd. The tribunal amended the respondent's name to reflect its legal identity as a limited company and heard the case by telephone on 27 November 2020 before Employment Judge Housego.

The tribunal found that the claimant had been placed on furlough on 30 March 2020 and remained furloughed throughout April and May 2020, when she was paid £794.89 for each month. It accepted that the correct monthly furlough figure was £794.82 and found that furlough ended only on 26 June 2020, following the respondent's email of 24 June 2020.

For June 2020, the respondent had paid £44.47, which it said related to hours worked after furlough ended. The tribunal held that the claimant was entitled to furlough pay for the period 1 to 25 June 2020, because furloughed workers were not permitted to work and entitlement to furlough pay did not depend on whether the employer claimed reimbursement from government. It also found that some of the tasks the respondent said the claimant was asked to do were work, and that whether she attended training was not material to the wage claim.

The tribunal calculated the amount due for 25 days of furlough pay by dividing £794.82 by 30 and multiplying by 25, producing £662.41. It ordered the respondent to pay that sum to the claimant.