Miss H Akbar v FPKglasgow Ltd — 2025

Miss H Akbar brought a complaint of unlawful deduction from wages under Part 2 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The respondent did not lodge an ET3, did not attend, and was not represented. The Tribunal proceeded in the respondent’s absence and first determined whether the claim was in time.

The Tribunal found that the claimant began work on 27 May 2024 and her employment ended on 4 November 2024. She was engaged to manage the pottery painting section at the Firepit & Kiln restaurant and was to be paid £16 per hour. Although her hours varied week to week, the Tribunal accepted rota evidence showing 532 hours worked. It found that she received no wages at all during employment, queried the position repeatedly, and was told payment would be made.

After employment ended, the parties agreed that the sums due would be paid in instalments. A total of £1,700 was paid between 28 November 2024 and 18 January 2025, but that did not satisfy the wages debt. The Tribunal held that the limitation period ran from the date wages should have been paid, not from the date of the last instalment actually paid. On that basis, it treated the case as a series of deductions ending on 4 November 2024, with the ordinary time limit extended by early conciliation to 4 March 2025. The ET1 presented on 14 April 2025 was therefore out of time.

The Tribunal nevertheless exercised its discretion to hear the claim out of time. It accepted that the claimant’s lateness was due to a reasonably held but mistaken belief that the three-month limit ran from the last payment received, and it considered that she had taken steps to research her rights before claiming. On the merits, it found that 532 hours at £16 per hour produced gross wages of £8,512. After crediting the £1,700 already paid, the remaining wages due were £6,812. It ordered the respondent to pay that sum.