Miss C J Gubby v Trinity Care Group Beds and Northants Ltd — 2024

Miss Gubby commenced work on 19 May 2023 and the tribunal found that Trinity Care Beds and Northants Ltd, not Visiting Angels, was her employer up to 24 July 2023. The judge relied on the service agreement, payslips and the respondent's own July 2023 correspondence saying she had been employed by Trinity Care Beds and Northants Ltd. The franchise agreement and the late-produced material did not displace that finding, and the evidence was insufficient to show any relevant TUPE transfer.

It was common ground that the claimant had not been paid for 1 July 2023 to 24 July 2023, and the parties agreed the unpaid salary was £1,749.99 gross. The respondent accepted there was no statutory basis for the deduction and did not rely on any written consent. Its case was that it could recover losses for alleged damage to a laptop and asserted repair costs of £800, but it produced no supporting evidence such as a receipt. The tribunal accepted the claimant's evidence that she returned the laptop in the condition in which it had been provided and found no lawful basis for the deduction.

The tribunal therefore upheld the unlawful deductions from wages claim and ordered the respondent to pay £1,749.99 gross. The separate mileage or travel costs claim failed because the tribunal found no contractual or other entitlement to mileage, whether written or oral, and rejected the claim for £250. The judge also referred to section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, Delaney v Staples, and regulation 4 of the TUPE Regulations 2006 in the reasoning.