Mrs R Hodgkin - Counsel For the v Mr Large - Counsel — 2018

Mr Brice brought two claims for unauthorised deduction from wages: one for unpaid expenses and one for unpaid commission. The expenses element was dismissed by consent after the parties reached agreement during the hearing. The remaining issue was how commission was to be calculated under Annexe A to the claimant's contract.

The tribunal preferred the respondent's construction of Annexe A. It found that "Sales Income" was a defined term meaning gross sales margin, not gross sales without deduction. The tribunal said the document was poorly drafted, but held that the wording and commercial context showed the parties intended commission to be calculated on margin, not on gross sales per se, and that the £60,000 on-target commission figure had to be read in that context.

On the deductions question, the tribunal held that the £2.5% NHS procurement charge was not to be deducted when calculating gross margin because, on the respondent's own spreadsheet, it was deducted later to produce net margin. It also held that the £400 per day cost base applied across all 384.75 days, and that the direct cost of third-party re-sale licences fell to be deducted in calculating gross sales margin. On that basis the commission claim was partly upheld and the tribunal ordered payment of £1,195.39, although the reasons section contains one inconsistent figure of £1,159.39 in paragraphs 17 and 35.2.