Mr T Sato v C & A Inns Limited — 2024

Mr T Sato worked as Head Chef for C & A Inns Limited from 16 October 2023 to 10 May 2024. The hearing took place in Nottingham on 28 November 2024 before Employment Judge M Butler sitting alone. The Respondent did not attend or have representation. Reasonable adjustments were made because the Claimant is Japanese, profoundly deaf, does not speak English, can lip read only to a limited extent, and no JSL interpreter was available.

The tribunal upheld the holiday pay claim. In the reasons, the Judge accepted the Claimant's evidence that he was owed holiday pay because the Respondent did not attend to rebut it, although it had sent a schedule of payments without commentary. The operative paragraph states £1,353.76, while the reasons refer to £1,353.85 and the overall total award of £2,584.61 is consistent with £1,353.85 plus the payslip award.

The claim for unauthorised deductions from wages was dismissed. The Claimant said he worked 50 hours most weeks and should have been paid for an additional 10 hours each week, but he had no records or calculations to support that case. The contract of employment provided that hours over 40 in a week did not entitle him to further payment unless there was a specific agreement to the contrary, and no such agreement was produced.

The tribunal also found that the Claimant had not been given all of his payslips and awarded the equivalent of 2 weeks' wages, £1,230.76, as compensation for that breach. The Judge noted that the alleged mortgage consequences were outside the tribunal's jurisdiction to compensate. The total award was £2,584.61.