Dr. A. Raithatha v Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust — 2024

Dr A. Raithatha worked as a locum doctor for Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust from 14 February 2022 to 12 July 2023. The dispute was whether the hourly rate he was paid for bank work already included rolled-up holiday pay, or whether holiday pay should have been added separately at 12.07% under the unlawful deductions from wages provisions in s.13 ERA 1996.

The tribunal found that the Change to T&C document signed on 8 September 2021 was ambiguous on its own, but the Bank Registration Document, read together with the rate cards, made the composite nature of the rate clear. The rate cards stated that the hourly rate included holiday pay, and later cards and payslips used the acronym "WTD" to identify the holiday-pay element. The tribunal accepted that the BRD explained that WTD meant holiday pay and held that the arrangement was transparent and comprehensible when the documents were read together.

The tribunal found that the first rate card ending 6 November 2022 was not emailed to the claimant, but it was available on the intranet and the claimant probably saw the rate in writing before completing timesheets. In any event, the claimant was supplied with the later rate cards from 7 November 2022, which clearly showed the rate split. The tribunal also held that any claim for deductions before 7 November 2022 was out of time because the alleged series of deductions ended when the November 2022 rate card was received.

The unlawful deduction from wages claim was therefore not well founded and was dismissed. A separate claim for failure to provide section 1 ERA particulars of employment was dismissed upon withdrawal by the claimant. The respondent's pleaded set-off point about an alleged overpayment was not pursued and no finding was made on it.