Miss A Jones Miss M Raggett v Vertman Limited — 2022

The claims were presented on 15 July 2020. Miss A Jones and Miss M Raggett complained about unpaid wages, and Miss Raggett also pursued an unfair dismissal claim. The respondent denied the claims in its response but did not attend the hearing or give evidence. The tribunal found that the claimants had been told, when the Forest Inn was closed for refurbishment, that they would be paid until the pub reopened at a rate linked to the corresponding month in the previous year, and that they were required to remain available for work.

The tribunal found that the respondent paid the claimants under that arrangement until the end of January 2020, but then said they would only be paid for the hours they actually worked. Apart from 45 hours in February 2020, the respondent did not offer further work or pay them in accordance with the agreement. The claimants remained available for work and resigned on 21 April 2020. The tribunal held that the respondent was in repudiatory breach of contract, that the claimants resigned in response to that breach, and that they did not affirm the breach before resigning. It therefore found unlawful deductions from wages for both claimants for the period February 2020 to 21 April 2020.

For Miss A Jones, the tribunal awarded £3,848 gross for unpaid wages. For Miss M Raggett, it awarded £5,873.50 gross for unpaid wages. In addition, the tribunal held that Miss Raggett had been constructively dismissed and that the dismissal was unfair. It awarded her a basic award of £765 and a compensatory award of £6,237.50, made up of £500 for loss of statutory rights and £5,737.50 for 15 weeks' loss of earnings at £382.50 per week.