Alexandrea Poppleton v Cognisco Ltd — 2021

The claimant, Alexandrea Poppleton, was the respondent's CEO. The respondent gave three months' notice to terminate her employment, and that notice expired on 24 February 2020. From her final pay the respondent deducted £1,500 for a Cranfield University course, and the claimant also said that her February pay had been undercalculated.

The tribunal held that the £1,500 deduction was unlawful. The employment contract contained a repayment clause for course fees incurred during the last six months, but only where the employee gave notice voluntarily. Ms Poppleton did not give notice; the respondent did. The tribunal found there was no contractual basis for repayment in those circumstances and no written agreement or consent under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 to authorise the deduction.

On the February pay issue, the tribunal rejected the respondent's use of working days in February 2020 to calculate pay up to 24 February. It found that the correct approach was to use actual days in the month, and relied on Taylor v East Midlands Offender Employment and Hartley & Ors v King Edward VI College. On the claimant's pleaded case, this produced an additional unlawful deduction of £275.86.

The tribunal therefore declared that the respondent had made unlawful deductions from wages and ordered payment of £1,775.86 in total. It noted that a larger deduction might have arisen on the actual-days basis, but limited the award to the amount pleaded, with the claimant's consent, because the respondent had not had the opportunity to comment on that possibility.