Mr P Quanborough v Lidl Great Britain Limited — 2023

The claimant was employed as a warehouse operative from 5 October 2021 until summary dismissal on 11 March 2022. At the hearing he withdrew his unfair dismissal claim, accepting he lacked the required two years' service, and also withdrew his unpaid sick pay claim.

The tribunal dismissed the unauthorised deduction claims. It found that the child maintenance deductions were made following correspondence and a schedule from the DWP Child Maintenance Service and fell within section 14(3) ERA 1996, so section 13 did not apply. It also found the claimant had been paid his wages by the respondent despite bank statement naming variations, and that voluntarily returning a payment did not create a deduction by the respondent.

On pension deductions, the tribunal found employer pension contributions were not wages and did not accept that the claimant had opted out of the pension scheme. The March 2022 employee pension contribution was therefore authorised under the contract. The wrongful dismissal claim also failed because the claimant had been absent from work from 21 December 2021 to 11 March 2022 without authorisation or medical certification, which the tribunal found amounted to gross misconduct permitting dismissal without notice.