(sitting alone) Ms D Rose v Paula Deans — 2018

Ms D Rose brought a claim for arrears of wages after the termination of her employment with Paula Deans. The respondent denied the claim but did not attend the hearing. The tribunal proceeded in her absence and accepted the claimant's oral evidence, her diary records, and the rota photographs and associated documents that she had produced.

The tribunal found that the claimant started work on or about 16 April 2018 at the Arbroath Artisan Golf Club Restaurant. It accepted the working arrangement as pleaded by the claimant, including payment at National Minimum Wage rates with flexible hours and an agreed basis of 23 hours per week, later paid in cash monthly. On the evidence accepted by the tribunal, the claimant had worked 361.75 hours and been paid for only 230 hours. After allowing for later payments, and adding holiday pay accrued but untaken, the balance due was calculated at 34.25 hours, producing an award of £268.17.

The tribunal also accepted that the claimant had incurred £33.26 in reasonable out-of-pocket expenses for two recorded-delivery letters and for printing and copying the rota photographs and documents used to support the claim. Separately, it found that the respondent had acted unreasonably in the way she dealt with the proceedings by failing to engage with the claim or provide any counter-calculation, so a Preparation Time Order was made for two hours at £33 per hour, totalling £66. The total sum payable was therefore £367.43.