(sitting alone)5 John Wright v Represented by:- In Person Tradestart Recruitment Limited — 2018

The claimant, John Wright, pursued a claim for unlawful deduction from wages arising from pipefitting work at Levenseat in May 2017. The tribunal recorded that the respondent was a recruitment agency supplying labour to Roltech Engineering Limited and that the claimant was directed to supply his labour through Cinch Contracting Services Limited as an intermediary. The claimant started work on 12 May 2017 and, on 17 May 2017, entered into a contract of employment with Cinch. The tribunal found that the contract was consistent with the relationship between the parties and that it was not necessary to find a contractual relationship between the claimant and Tradestart Recruitment Limited.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant had worked the hours claimed on 12 and 13 May 2017 and that Cinch paid him £593.09 on or about 19 May 2017, with further part payments of £250 and £200 on 9 and 16 June 2017 respectively. It held that the employer in respect of the alleged unlawful deductions was Cinch Contracting Services Limited and not the respondent named in the claim. Applying Selkent Bus Co Ltd v Moore, the tribunal granted the claimant's application to substitute Cinch as respondent, refused the alternative application to add Cinch, and noted that the decision was reached in Cinch's absence with a right to seek reconsideration under Rule 71.

The tribunal did not finally resolve whether there had been unlawful deductions or whether the claim had been presented in time. It explained the operation of section 23 ERA 1996 and the early conciliation extension under section 207B, noted that the claim was lodged on 15 October 2017, and identified competing dates depending on whether 2 June 2017 or 16 June 2017 was treated as the last deduction in a series. The judgment therefore ordered a one-day continued final hearing to determine the outstanding issues, including limitation and the hours worked by the claimant under the Cinch contract in the period 15 May to 25 May inclusive.