Miss J Daniel v Dew Group Africa Ltd — 2021

Miss J Daniel brought a claim against Dew Group Africa Ltd for unlawful deductions from wages under s.13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The tribunal accepted her bank statements and payslips as establishing the payments made and the deductions shown on the payslips, and it accepted Mr de Wet's evidence that the claimant had been paid as she said. The respondent also accepted that, throughout the employment, deductions for income tax, national insurance, pension contributions and student loan repayments had not been paid on to the relevant bodies, and that the July payslip overstated payment by £961.12.

The tribunal found that the payslips were not accurate save for the gross monthly figure of £3,000. It rejected the respondent's reliance on an alleged training-cost claim and on the claimant's notice period point, holding that the matter before it was not a breach of contract claim and that the claimant was entitled to resign without notice. The tribunal said that non-payment of salary to that level was a fundamental breach of contract and referred to s.95(1)(c) ERA 1996 in that context.

For remedy, the tribunal calculated the gross entitlement as £3,000 per month for 9.5 months, amounting to £28,500, and deducted all sums received from the respondent or from Mr de Wet personally. The payments listed in the reasons totalled £13,949.84, leaving £14,550.16 due to the claimant. The judgment also noted that this award did not relieve the respondent of accounting to HMRC for employer's national insurance contributions calculated at £3,135, but that figure was not part of the tribunal's monetary order.