C Herbert Employment 10 Specialist Dalkeith CAB ELOSCN v 15 A Bourke Consultant 20 — 2024

The tribunal found that the claimant, Caitlin Allan, resigned on 12 August 2021 and that the respondent, The Edinburgh & Lothians Out of School Care Network (ELOSCN), issued a payslip dated 20 August 2021 showing net pay due of £553.76. The respondent did not pay that sum, instead asserting that it could withhold the wages because the claimant had removed toys and other items and had not returned her ID badge and lanyard.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant had brought a number of toys into the Tynewater breakfast club from home or had bought them herself, and that she was entitled to remove items that belonged to her when she left. It rejected the respondent's assertion that it had any contractual basis for treating those toys as its property, and found that the claimant did not remove all of the toys she had brought because she did not want the children to be left without toys after her resignation.

The tribunal held that clause 2 of the claimant's written particulars did not authorise the respondent to withhold the whole of her final wages in the circumstances. It also found there was no evidence to support the respondent's asserted replacement costs of £1,050, and noted that no witness had spoken to material vouching that figure. On that basis, there was no relevant provision of the contract authorising the deduction, and the full deduction of £553.76 was contrary to section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The complaint under section 23 of the 1996 Act was therefore well founded. The tribunal made the mandatory declaration and order for payment under section 24, and ordered ELOSCN to pay the claimant £553.76, being the net pay due to her on 20 August 2021.