Mr Kenneth Allan v The Stein Inn Limited — 2019

The tribunal considered separate claims by Mr Kenneth Allan and Mrs Hazel Morgan for unauthorised deduction from wages under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It found that both were employed on salary, that their March 2020 pay was not dependent on the amount of work carried out, and that each had agreed to furlough from 23 March 2020 to 31 March 2020, with furlough pay later paid in April 2020.

For Mr Allan, the tribunal found that he should have been paid his full salary for the 16 normal working days between 1 March 2020 and 22 March 2020, amounting to £1,538.40 gross, but that he was only paid £1,237.91 gross. That meant an underpayment of £300.49 gross, which the tribunal held was not authorised by statute, contract, or written consent and therefore amounted to an unauthorised deduction. For Mrs Morgan, the tribunal found that her salary for the same period should have been £1,600.00 gross, but that she was only paid £891.58 gross, producing an underpayment of £708.42 gross on the same basis.

Although the tribunal accepted that the deductions were unauthorised, it also found that in November 2020 the respondent made an open offer of £500 to each claimant and that the settlement correspondence showed offer and acceptance. It held that the £500 paid to each claimant was a legally binding settlement agreed by both claimants and accepted in full and final settlement of their claims. On that basis, and alternatively by giving credit for the settlement sum, no money remained due to either claimant and both claims were dismissed.