Mr Timothy Trott v United Anodisers Ltd Heard — 2022

The claimant worked as Technical/Quality Manager from 16 September 2019 to 30 September 2020 under a contract starting at £32,000 with a rise to £35,000 after three months. The tribunal accepted that the claimant had asked for the pay rise to be deferred until April 2020, so the increase was not treated as a lump sum but as an annual salary uplift of £250 per month. It found that pay during furlough from April to June 2020 was correctly calculated by reference to February 2020 basic pay, and that the outstanding backpay for January to March 2020 was later paid in August 2020. No financial loss was proved from the timing of that payment, and no further underpayment was established on the salary-rise strand.

On overtime, the tribunal accepted that overtime had been paid on occasions despite the contract saying it would not normally be payable, but it found no substantive evidence of any shortfall in overtime payments. It accepted that £900 had been paid as an advance of wages and that the claimant had not given prior written agreement or consent for that sum to be deducted from future wages. For that reason the August 2020 deduction was an unauthorised deduction from wages and the respondent was ordered to repay £900. The separate £15,000 breach of contract claim was withdrawn at the hearing and therefore fell away.

On bonus, the tribunal held that the claimant was eligible for the company's EBITDA bonus scheme and had in fact received £1,773.08 gross, but it rejected the argument that a further bonus sum was due by way of unlawful deduction from wages. On holiday pay, it found that the claimant had worked during the June 2020 shutdown week, so he had not taken 5 days of annual leave for which he had been paid in that month, and those days remained accrued and unpaid at termination. However, because the holiday pay claim was presented before employment ended, the tribunal held that the claim was premature and outside its jurisdiction.