Mr Brandon McLeod-Miller v Made to Web Limited — 2022

Mr Brandon McLeod-Miller worked as a Senior Web Developer for Made to Web Limited from 9 September 2019 on a salary of £55,000 a year. The case concerned his work on the Prince Visa project, his resignation with immediate effect on 30 March 2020, and claims for constructive dismissal, sex discrimination, unlawful deduction from wages, notice pay, holiday pay, and the respondent's counterclaim for breach of contract.

The tribunal dismissed constructive dismissal because Mr McLeod-Miller had less than two years' service. It also recorded the notice pay breach of contract complaint as dismissed "on withdrawal". The sex discrimination claim failed because the tribunal found that the comparison with Ms Lewis did not show treatment because of sex: she was self-employed, remained in a different position from the claimant after he had left, and the respondent wanted to keep her, which explained the difference in payments.

The tribunal upheld the unlawful deduction from wages claim. It found there was no contractual or written basis for withholding pay, rejected the suggestion of any collateral agreement to defer wages until completion of the project, and found an error in the payroll calculation because the monthly pay was below the contractual monthly amount. It held that the unpaid March 2020 wages and earlier shortfalls formed a continuing series of deductions, and awarded £6,833.75 after crediting the £500 paid in April 2020.

The holiday pay claim also succeeded. The tribunal accepted that 11 days' holiday pay were outstanding and calculated the sum at £1,675.74 using a daily rate derived from the corrected pay figures. The respondent's counterclaim failed because the tribunal found that non-payment of wages was a fundamental breach of contract entitling the claimant to resign, that negligence was not proved, and that the commercial risk of the project lay with the company. The total award was £8,509.49.