In person For the v Mr Ul-Abideen (Director of R) — 2019

The tribunal found that the only contractual term clearly agreed between the parties was that the claimant would be paid £2,500 gross per month as an employee. It inferred additional fundamental terms from statute, including entitlement to 5.6 weeks' leave and entitlement to statutory sick pay if the notification requirements were met. The tribunal rejected the respondent's case that the salary was only payable if the company could afford it, and said the payslips and payment history did not reflect any such term.

On the evidence about working patterns, the tribunal found that the claimant was working sufficiently during 1 February to 26 April 2019 and 18 June to 2 September 2019 to be entitled to his monthly salary. It relied on contemporaneous emails, signed bailiff agreements, and witness evidence from Mr Merazga and Mr Saeed, and it noted that the respondent had not raised serious concerns about the claimant's work ethic in any sustained way or removed him from payroll earlier. The tribunal therefore held that wages were properly payable for those two periods and that the non-payment amounted to unauthorised deductions under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

For the periods when the claimant was away in Pakistan for health reasons and later signed off as unfit for work, the tribunal held that he did not qualify for statutory sick pay because there was no written notification to the respondent of his incapacity for work. It found that the fit note the claimant relied on was not shown to have been sent, and on that basis it awarded no pay for those sickness absence periods. The tribunal also held that the claim was in time under section 23 because the respondent paid wages irregularly and in arrears, so the claimant could expect the relevant last payment period to run into spring 2020.

The final award was £13,384.54 gross, calculated as 23.2 weeks at £576.92 per week. The tribunal recorded that the sum was a gross figure and that the claimant would be responsible for tax and national insurance contributions on it.