Ms M Stevenson v Represented by Ms A Bowman - Solicitor Bells Pub Group Limited — 2024

The tribunal upheld the claimant’s breach of contract claim, finding that 6 Bells Pub Group Limited failed to pay wages for work undertaken in December 2021 and June 2022, which were payable in January and July 2022. It ordered payment of £3,808.05 as net damages for that breach.

The claimant also succeeded in her unlawful deduction from wages claim under section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The tribunal found that salary for work done in January 2023, payable on 28 February 2023, and salary for work done in February 2023, payable on termination, had been unlawfully deducted from wages contrary to s13 ERA 1996, and ordered payment of £4,769.24 gross. The judgment also allowed the respondent to make any required deductions for income tax and employee National Insurance from that gross sum before paying the balance.

The wrongful dismissal claim succeeded because the respondent dismissed the claimant without 3 weeks’ notice, and the tribunal awarded £1,312.56 as net damages. The unfair dismissal claim also succeeded: the tribunal held that the claimant had been constructively dismissed and awarded £3,400.98, made up of a basic award of £1,650.90 and a compensatory award of £1,750.08.

The tribunal further found that the respondent had failed to provide a written statement of particulars of employment required by s1 ERA 1996. Because the claimant had succeeded in claims of a kind listed in Schedule 5 of the Employment Act 2002, the tribunal awarded an additional two weeks’ pay under s38(3) of that Act, capped at £571 per week, producing an uplift of £1,100.60. The combined awards totalled £14,391.43.