Miss K. Kirtland v Maidenhead Lawn Tennis Club Ltd — 2023

Miss K. Kirtland had been employed by Maidenhead Lawn Tennis Club Ltd since 14 April 2014 as Club Administrator and Welfare Officer. Her contract provided for 16 to 20 hours per week, with longer hours in busy periods, and the tribunal found she had historically determined her own hours. For August to December 2022, the respondent accepted that she was entitled to be paid for the hours she would have worked; the dispute was how many hours that would have been.

The tribunal accepted the respondent's figures showing that the claimant had worked 521 hours across August to December over the previous seven years, an average of about 26 hours per week. It rejected her evidence that she would have worked 30 hours per week in the disputed period, finding that assertion exaggerated and inconsistent with other statements she had made. The tribunal also accepted Mr Hedley's evidence that the ClubSpark system was intended to make the claimant's job quicker and more efficient, and it found that if there had been something particularly pressing she would have sought permission to work more than 20 hours.

On that basis, the tribunal found that she would probably have worked a similar number of hours to her historical average, rather than the 30 hours per week she claimed. It found that she in fact worked 449 hours in the disputed period, 72 hours fewer than she would have worked had she not been told to limit her hours. The tribunal therefore held that the respondent had made an unlawful deduction from wages.

The award was calculated at 72 hours multiplied by the agreed hourly rate of £17.14, giving £1,234.08 in wages, plus £148.95 in rolled-up holiday pay at 12.07%, producing a total of £1,383.03. The tribunal also ordered the respondent to make pension contributions at 3% on the total of the wage and holiday-pay figures.