Mr I McCaffery v LJS Food Chelmsford Limited — 2023

Mr McCaffery was employed by LJS Food Chelmsford Limited as a Team Leader from 23 August 2021 on a salary of £23,000. His employment ended on 26 September 2021. The claim before the tribunal was for unauthorised deduction from wages for the period 1 September 2021 to 26 September 2021, after the Respondent withheld his final salary on the basis of training and other costs said to arise under paragraph 13 of the contract.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant had signed a contract containing a probationary-period clause referring to possible deductions for recruitment and training costs if he left or was dismissed within the first three months, and a separate £50 uniform clause. It found, however, that the Respondent's evidence about the amount and composition of the alleged deductions was inconsistent and unreliable. The final payslip showed deductions of £676.15 for training and £962.41 for expenses, while Mr Stagg later referred to a total of £1,690.95 including hotel, train fare, uniform, training time and payroll administration costs. The tribunal also accepted that the claimant's uniform had been returned and that no deduction should have been made for it.

The tribunal found paragraph 13 was not sufficiently clear to authorise the deductions relied on, because it did not specify that a deduction would always be made, did not set out how any deduction would be calculated, and did not provide sufficient information about the potential level or staging of deductions. It held that the clause was, in the circumstances, a penalty clause and not enforceable against the claimant. The tribunal also found there had been no meaningful agreement or prior written consent to the deduction, and that the wages paid were less than the wages properly payable.

The claim therefore succeeded. The tribunal ordered the Respondent to pay the claimant £1,661.11 gross, being the agreed sum otherwise due for the relevant period. It recorded that there was no evidence to support any additional compensation for financial loss under section 24(2) ERA 1996, so no further award was made beyond repayment of the deducted wages.