Mr G Stenhouse v Represented by: Mhairi Murning, Lay representative Rest Eazy Ltd — 2022

Mr G Stenhouse was employed by Rest Eazy Ltd as a life insurance salesman from 21 September 2021 until he resigned on 12 October 2021. His contract provided for a salary of £25,000, payable monthly from the start date, and also contained a one-month training period clause and a one-week notice clause. The respondent did not pay him on 29 October 2021, and the tribunal treated the resulting non-payment of wages, notice pay, and accrued annual leave as a claim for unauthorised deduction from wages under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The main factual dispute was whether the claimant had properly given notice and whether he had been told he would not need to work it. The tribunal accepted the claimant's evidence that he told Mr Robson he was willing to work his notice, and that the respondent did not contact him afterwards to require him to return for the notice period. It also accepted that Mr Robson was a contact point for the respondent, had delivered training, and had signed the contract on behalf of Ms Brown, so the claimant's understanding of his role was unsurprising.

On the wages claim for 1 to 12 October 2021, the tribunal accepted that the claimant had not met targets during four days of home working, but found that this reflected adjustment to the role and the need for further training rather than underperformance justifying withholding pay. The respondent relied on the training-period wording in clause 1.1, but the tribunal found that it was not justified in withholding wages on that basis. On notice pay, the tribunal held that clause 13.1 did not assist the respondent because it addressed termination by the employer, whereas the claimant had resigned, so any alleged negligence or incompetence was irrelevant to the question of notice pay.

The tribunal also found no contractual provision permitting the respondent to withhold accrued but untaken annual leave. It therefore held that the respondent was not permitted to make deductions in relation to wages, notice pay, or annual leave, and the deductions were unlawful under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The judgment awarded £1,382.09 in total, broken down as £759.54 for wages, £480.77 for notice pay, and £141.78 for annual leave.