K i n g v , Solicitor Ponticelli United Kingdom Ltd — 2022

Mr King brought a single complaint for unlawful deduction from wages against Ponticelli United Kingdom Ltd. He had transferred from Petrofac to the respondent under TUPE on 1 May 2020. The dispute was whether the September 2019 emails and the attached Development Plan formed part of his contract so that he was entitled to progressive salary increases, including the higher Production Technician rates discussed in the evidence.

The tribunal held that the signed Statement of Particulars dated 27 September 2019 contained an entire agreement clause in clause 28. Applying section 1 of the Contract (Scotland) Act 1997, it concluded that the clause excluded any prior agreement in the 20 September 2019 email, so that email did not form part of the contract. Clause 24 did not incorporate that earlier email; on the tribunal's objective reading, the reference to the "Offer Letter" meant the separate 24 September 2019 offer letter.

The tribunal accepted that the 13 January 2020 email and attached Development Plan could operate as a later contractual change or conditional promise, because clause 26 allowed reasonable changes and future changes could be agreed. However, even on that analysis, the claimant had not completed the Stage 4 requirements in the Development Plan: he had not completed the Production Technician CPP or passed the 10 POL modules. His alternative argument that he should receive the increase simply because he had been signed off as a Production Technician was rejected, and the tribunal said an unlawful deduction claim is concerned with wages properly payable, not a loss of opportunity to earn remuneration. The complaint was dismissed and no monetary award was made.