E.T. Z (WR) EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 4105029/2022 (V)5 Held at Aberdeen on November 2022 Employment Judge J M Hendry Mr G McDonald v Represented by Mr W J Craig,15 Kincardine & Mearns CAB Skye Highland Adventures Ltd — 2022

The tribunal accepted Mr McDonald's evidence as credible and reliable. It found that he had been engaged as an Activity Guide on a salary of £24,000 per year, started work on 1 May 2022, and signed a written contract before commencing employment. It accepted that he was not told in advance that the first month would be unpaid, and that the later WhatsApp messages from Mr Brady supported the claimant's account that wages would be paid.

On the wages issue, the tribunal held that Skye Highland Adventures Ltd had no right to withhold payment or to deduct training costs from wages. It found there had been no agreement for repayment of training costs, no written authority to make a deduction, and no contractual basis for recoupment. Applying section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal upheld the claim for unpaid wages and awarded £4,000 for May and June 2022.

The tribunal also upheld the claimant's entitlement to reimbursement of mileage costs, awarding £54.45, and to accrued holiday pay, awarding £350. It rejected other heads of claim, including an uplift under the ACAS Code and further damages-style claims, on the basis that the Code did not apply because this was not a dismissal and that the tribunal had no power to award those additional sums.