Miss A Howie v RBG Security Solutions Ltd — 2019

Miss A Howie presented a claim for unpaid wages. Although the ET1 had originally named RBG Security Solutions Ltd, the hearing established that the correct respondent was Secura Scotland Ltd, which the tribunal added as a second respondent. The first respondent was dismissed from the claim.

The tribunal found that the claimant worked three shifts for the second respondent on 4, 9 and 18 August 2018. The dispute was over the rate and hours payable. The claimant said she should be paid at £8.75 per hour as an SIA steward and claimed 15 hours, while Mr Mabon said she was working as a Safety Steward, which was an unlicensed role paid at £7.83 per hour, and that she had worked 13.5 hours.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant's SIA licence had expired in May 2018 and had not been renewed. It concluded that she was therefore entitled to the Safety Steward rate of £7.83 per hour, and not the higher SIA steward rate. On the hours worked, the tribunal preferred Mr Mabon's evidence, supported by the invoices he produced, and found that the claimant had worked 13.5 hours in total.

On that basis, the tribunal held that the second respondent owed the claimant £105.70 in outstanding wages and ordered payment of that sum. The tribunal noted that any reason advanced for withholding payment, including the claimant's social media posts, was not a lawful basis for refusing to pay wages earned.