Mr Chris Cannon v Represented by:15 Mr A Locke Wind Tecknik Nord UK Limited — 2019

The claimant, Mr Chris Cannon, was employed by Wind Tecknik Nord UK Limited as a Wind Turbine Technician from 3 January 2018 until 24 May 2019. He complained that when wages due on 31 May 2019 were paid, the respondent deducted £810 for 'company car usage'. The tribunal found that there had been no previous deduction for company car usage and no contractual authorisation or written agreement for the deduction.

Applying section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal held that the deduction was not authorised and therefore amounted to an unlawful deduction from wages. It found that the claimant had suffered an unauthorised deduction of £810 gross, from which income tax and national insurance were to be remitted to HMRC.

The tribunal ordered the respondent to pay £810 gross to the claimant. It did not make any separate award for costs or preparation time. The claimant had asked for travel costs, loss of wages, and time spent preparing for and attending the hearing, but the tribunal said there was no statutory basis for recompensing those sums in the circumstances.

On the preparation time application, the tribunal said a preparation time order was not competent because the respondent had not entered an appearance or lodged a response, and in any event the statutory conditions for such an order were not met on the facts found. It noted that, if there was good cause for the respondent's non-attendance, the respondent could apply for reconsideration and for an extension of time to present a response.