Mrs Z Liu v Meet You UK Limited — 2024

The Claimant, Mrs Z Liu, brought a claim for unpaid wages relating to work performed in August 2023 for the Respondent, Meet You UK Limited. The Respondent applied to postpone or stay the proceedings pending parallel County Court litigation; the Tribunal refused the application under rules 29-30 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure, finding that postponement was not within the overriding objective given that the parties were present and prepared and the sum at issue was relatively modest.

On the substantive claim, the Tribunal found the Claimant was at least a worker within s.230 Employment Rights Act 1996 (providing guided tours to Chinese-speaking clients under a personal-service contract) and could therefore bring a claim under s.13 ERA 1996. It was not in dispute that £1,385 gross would ordinarily have been payable for work done in August 2023. The Respondent had not shown any contractual or statutory authorisation for withholding the sum, and assertions that the Claimant had breached contract or was competing with the Respondent did not provide a right to deduct wages. The unlawful deduction claim was therefore well-founded.

The Respondent's breach of contract counterclaim was dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Following Read v Ryder Ltd, an employer counterclaim under the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) Order 1994 requires the employee to have unequivocally brought a claim under the same Order; the Claimant's ET1 was naturally read as a s.13 ERA 1996 claim, so Article 4(d) was not satisfied.