Mr. Arkadiusz Choina v Scotbeef Limited — 2022

Mr Arkadiusz Choina worked for Scotbeef Ltd as a Hygiene Operative at its Bridge of Allan site from 29 June 2020. The tribunal accepted that, at the start of employment, the working arrangement was a verbal contract requiring him to work a 4.30pm to 1.30am shift Monday to Thursday and a 4.30pm to 12.30am shift on Friday, with two unpaid 30-minute breaks each day. It found that he was paid at an hourly rate of £8.93, later £9.09, and that from 14 June 2021 a new shift pattern began for which he did not pursue a wages claim.

The tribunal accepted Mr Choina's evidence that he worked, or was ready, able and willing to work, for 39 hours each week. It rejected Scotbeef's suggestion that he had regularly chosen to arrive 30 minutes early, and found that he typically attended at or before 4.30pm because that was the agreed start time. It also rejected the case that he was regularly not working or not available for work between 11.30pm and midnight, finding there was insufficient evidence of a regular third 30-minute break and that he often had no break at that time or a shorter one, while remaining ready to work if tasks were unfinished.

On pay, the tribunal held that Scotbeef had paid the correct basic wage for 39 hours each week, which matched the work performed or time spent ready, able and willing to work. The claim instead depended on an alleged entitlement to an extra 1.5 hours' pay each week for break time. The tribunal found that although Scotbeef and USDAW had probably agreed a collective arrangement under which employees were paid for the first 1.5 hours of breaks, Mr Choina had not shown that this arrangement was directly enforceable or incorporated into his own contract. It noted that the unsigned contracts referred only to the collective agreement in relation to holiday pay and death-in-service provisions, not the hourly rate or breaks. The tribunal therefore found no express or implied term entitling him to paid break time and dismissed the s.13 ERA 1996 wages claim and the associated breach of contract claim.