Mr J Chamberlain v Pike Smith & Kemp — 2019

Mr J Chamberlain worked as an office manager for Pike Smith & Kemp from March 2016 on a salary of £17,000 plus commission. He resigned on 7 December 2018, the respondent accepted that resignation, and the tribunal found that his employment ended on 4 January 2019. The complaint was for unauthorised deductions from wages in June 2018, September 2018, December 2018 and January 2019.

The tribunal found that the respondent had not paid the claimant his salary for June 2018 or September 2018. It rejected the respondent's reliance on the car-related deduction clauses for those months because the property clause only permitted deductions from final pay, and the salary-deduction clause required advance written notice, which had not been given before those wages became due. Those sums were therefore unauthorised deductions.

For December 2018, the tribunal found that the claimant remained entitled to his normal salary during his notice period because he was ready and willing to work and did some work for the respondent. It also found that commission earned in November 2018 remained payable even though it fell due after notice had been given, because there was no contractual term excluding payment after resignation. The respondent was, however, entitled under the return-of-property clause to deduct £2,600 from final pay for the cost of replacing the damaged car, so the unauthorised deduction for the December pay period was limited to £2,551.50. The tribunal also found that the December 2018 commission of £2,450, payable on 31 January 2019 after termination, remained due and had been unlawfully withheld.

The tribunal held that the deductions formed a series from 30 June 2018 to 31 January 2019, so the claim was in time under section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It awarded the claimant £7,439.06 in total, being the sum of the June, September, December and January deduction amounts.