In person For the v Mr J. Roddy (paralegal) — 2020

The claimant was employed by EE from 24 September 2011 and TUPE transferred to Digitalis Group Limited in July 2015. He was the manager of the Amersham branch. The tribunal said the case was not being presented as a TUPE contract-variation dispute; the live issues were whether the claimant was entitled to payment for an extra half hour worked each day and whether part of his April 2018 bonus had been wrongly withheld.

On the extra half hour claim, the tribunal found that the contract provided for a 39-hour week, allowed the employer to require such reasonable hours as the position required, and stated that overtime was not payable. The claimant discussed the change with Mr Siddique and continued working after it was introduced. The judge also noted that the claimant’s salary later rose from £24,000 to £27,978.12 in May 2017, which may have taken account of the additional requirement. The tribunal held there was no agreement or contractual right to payment for the extra half hour and dismissed that claim.

On the April 2018 bonus, the tribunal accepted that the claimant earned a gross bonus of £870, calculated as 2.5% of gross profit. It accepted the respondent’s figure for gross profit in April 2018 of £34,781 against a target of £40,000, so a 50% reduction for missing that KPI was justified. However, the tribunal rejected the respondent’s case that a further 50% deduction was justified because the audit had allegedly been failed twice. The only bonus document before the tribunal showed that a failed monthly audit resulted in a 25% reduction, and there was no documentary support for a larger reduction.

The tribunal therefore held that 25% of the earned April bonus had been deducted without authority and entered judgment for £217.50 gross, subject to tax and National Insurance. The rest of the claimant’s claims were dismissed.