Mr Sebastian Tomiczek v Darma London Limited; and 2 others — 2021

Mr Sebastian Tomiczek brought a claim that unlawful deductions had been made from his wages in the sum of £1,976.00. At the final hearing before Employment Judge Ord on 29 March 2021, he could not give the dates on which he worked, the dates of any cash payments he said he had received, or the exact sums paid to him.

The claimant said he had worked with Jurek, whom he described as the main painter, and later said he had instead been working with a man called Sushek, a spray painter. The third respondent said that neither man was employed by any of the respondents, and that Jurek was an independent contractor and a joiner, not a painter. The claimant also referred to emails he said he had sent to the respondents, but these were not before the tribunal.

The tribunal held that the burden was on the claimant to establish that he was contractually entitled to wages that had not been paid. On the evidence before it, the tribunal was not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that any monies were due from any of the three respondents. The complaint was therefore dismissed.