Ms G Pruthi v MP Ltd t/a Guidos Proper Fish and Chips — 2024

The claimant was employed by MP10 Ltd t/a Guido’s Proper Fish and Chips as a food server from 17 August to 6 October 2023. She brought a complaint under Part II of the Employment Rights Act 1996 for unpaid wages and a separate complaint about a £20 uniform deposit. The tribunal found that no written contract had been provided, that the claimant was paid by reference to the national minimum wage, and that the respondent’s argument about notice was not relevant to whether the wages due on 9 October 2023 could be withheld.

On the wage claim, the tribunal preferred the respondent’s evidence on the hourly rate and found that the claimant was entitled to £10.42 per hour, not £10.52. It also found that she worked 75 hours and 50 minutes in the material period, after allowing for about 25 minutes lost through lateness, and that £790.15 gross wages were due and unpaid. The tribunal held that the respondent had made an unauthorised deduction under s.13 ERA 1996 and ordered payment of the gross sum.

On the separate payment claim, the tribunal found that the respondent had taken £20 from the claimant on or about 17 August 2023 as a uniform deposit. It held that the payment was not authorised by any written contractual term given to the claimant before the payment was made, nor was it an excepted payment under s.16 ERA 1996, so the payment was received in contravention of s.15 ERA 1996. The tribunal ordered repayment of the £20 and, under s.24(2), awarded a further £100 to compensate the claimant for financial loss attributable to the unlawful deduction, namely the additional interest on a loan from her flat mate.

The tribunal made no award for therapy costs and no award for injury to feelings, stating that injury to feelings is not available under s.24(2) and that the therapy costs were not proved on the balance of probabilities to be attributable to the deductions. It also noted that there was no breach of contract claim before it and no jurisdiction to consider any counterclaim for breach of contract.