In person For the v Mr Dale Smallshaw (Director) — 2019

The claimant’s employment ended on 15 May 2019. The tribunal recorded that, at the date of dismissal, he was due gross pay and holiday entitlement of £1,264.38. The respondent made five deductions from sums due: two for tax and national insurance, one undisputed deduction of £6.50 for a key, and two contentious deductions of £899 for a laptop and £487.78 for vehicle repairs.

The respondent sought to justify the laptop deduction on the basis that, when the laptop was returned, Google Chrome links to the claimant’s personal account allegedly revealed pornography, and the laptop was said to have been disposed of because of security concerns. The tribunal found there was nothing in the contract requiring permission for personal use, no documentary basis for that assertion, and no evidence that the laptop had been damaged beyond repair or that it had any proved value. It therefore concluded that the respondent had not proved the laptop deduction was justified.

As to the vehicle damage, the claimant accepted that he had caused the accident in January 2019 by reversing into another vehicle. The tribunal accepted that the respondent’s insurance excess was £500 and was prepared to accept that £487.78 had been paid to the third party. However, the respondent still had to show that the deduction was authorised by contract. The clauses relied on, referring to deductions for “any monies owed to the company” and to “unlawful loss and costs to the company,” were held to be ambiguous and too widely drafted to authorise the deductions in question.

Accordingly, the tribunal held that the respondent had made unauthorised deductions from the claimant’s pay and ordered it to pay him £1,100.44 net, calculated as £1,264.38 less £92 tax, £65.44 national insurance and £6.50 for the key.