Thomson v Swish A Limited — 2023

The claimant brought complaints of unlawful deduction from wages against two respondents. The First Respondent did not lodge a response and neither respondent attended the final hearing. The tribunal heard evidence from the claimant only, found her to be wholly credible and reliable, and accepted the documentary evidence. It found that she worked for the First Respondent from 6 March 2023 to 20 April 2023 and then for the Second Respondent from 21 April 2023 to 7 May 2023, performing the same website support role in both employments. She had written contracts providing for annual salaries of £22,500 and €27,000 respectively, but no wages were paid under either contract.

Applying section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, including section 13(3), the tribunal held that the claimant was due gross wages of £2,774 for the 45 days worked for the First Respondent and gross wages of €1,183 for the 16 days worked for the Second Respondent. It found that the Second Respondent's asserted payment of €1,031.75 on 28 April 2023 was never received by the claimant. The tribunal therefore found that the First Respondent made an unlawful deduction from wages in the sum of £2,774 and the Second Respondent made an unlawful deduction from wages in the sum of £1,039, after conversion at the Bank of England spot rate of 1.1385. Judgment was entered for those amounts, totalling £3,813 gross.