Haras v Perch (Edinburgh) Limited — 2022

Adam Haras brought claims against the Adriatico Restaurant, but the tribunal substituted Perch (Edinburgh) Ltd as respondent after Haras explained that he had received payslips from PEL and understood it owned and operated the restaurant. The respondent did not lodge a response or appear. Haras was employed as Head Chef from 16 November 2020 to 30 November 2021, working an average of 45 hours over 5 days a week at £12.50 per hour, with an employer pension contribution of 3% and weekly wages paid in arrears.

The tribunal accepted Haras's evidence as credible and reliable. It found that he had not been given any written statement of terms and conditions. For the notice period after he gave two weeks' notice, he worked 94 hours but was not paid wages or pension contributions. On the holiday pay issue, the tribunal found that the holiday year ran with the tax year from 6 April 2021, that Haras took 96 hours of holiday during the relevant year, and that he had accrued 165.1 hours by termination.

The tribunal upheld the unlawful deduction from wages claim and awarded £1,175 gross for unpaid notice-period wages, subject to tax and national insurance deductions. It upheld the breach of contract claim for unpaid pension contributions and the holiday pay claim, awarding £35.35 for pension contributions in the operative order and £863.75 gross as payment in lieu of 69.12 hours of untaken holiday. Paragraph 18 of the reasons calculates the pension-contribution loss at £35.25, so the judgment contains a 10p discrepancy between the reasons and the order.