In person. For the v Bcie — 2019

The claimant worked for the respondent from July 2008 and was not given a written contract of employment. She resigned in July 2018, giving two weeks' notice, and the respondent did not seek to rely on a longer notice provision until after her employment had ended. The respondent then withheld wages for 6-20 July 2018, relying on a termination clause contained in template or overseas staff contracts.

The tribunal found that the claimant had never consented in writing to the deduction and that the termination clause was not a relevant provision of her contract for the purposes of section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The claimant had no written contract, there was no basis for implying the term into her oral contract, and the contracts of overseas staff did not establish that the term applied to UK office staff.

The tribunal further found that, even if the clause could have been implied, the respondent had waived it by accepting the claimant's two-week notice period and not invoking the clause until after termination. The unlawful deduction of wages claim therefore succeeded, and the respondent was ordered to pay £1,100 gross wages for the period 6-20 July 2018.