Eurie Gittens v Mesa Vista t/a Green Motion — 2019

The claimant worked for Mesa Vista t/a Green Motion at Glasgow Airport from 15 December 2017 to 2 November 2018 as a Rental Sales Agent. She originally presented claims for unauthorised deductions from wages and unpaid holiday pay. During the proceedings the holiday pay claim was resolved by agreement and recorded as withdrawn and dismissed.

On the wages claim, the tribunal found that the claimant had been paid her full salary for 15 to 31 December 2017, so there was no unpaid six-day period at the start of her employment. The contractual dispute instead concerned bonus payments. The tribunal accepted that the claimant's contract referred to a separate bonus structure, that the relevant July to September 2018 scheme had been made available at the Glasgow site office, and that the terms were binding even though the claimant said she had not read them. The tribunal cited section 13 and section 27(1)(a) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, together with authorities on incorporation of terms and the need for good faith in the exercise of contractual discretion.

The tribunal found that the respondent did not act in good faith when it withheld the claimant's August and September 2018 bonuses. It had not put specific examples of alleged performance failings to her, had continued to pay bonuses after the first warning in May 2018, and issued the final warning on 13 September 2018 only after she queried the reduced August payment. The tribunal also noted that her appeal against that warning was not acknowledged until 2 November 2018, after she had already resigned on 10 October 2018. It concluded that the respondent had no contractual justification for withholding the bonuses and awarded the claimant £1,833.35 for August 2018 and £1,333 for September 2018, a total of £3,166.35.