W MacDonald v Represented by R Milvenan, Solicitor Morrison Data Services Limited — 2025

W MacDonald had worked as a water meter reader since 2007 and his employment transferred to Morrison Data Services Limited under TUPE on 1 August 2022. The tribunal found that, until April 2024, his travel from home to the first meter read and from the last meter read home was counted by line managers towards his basic 8-hour day. That approach applied to Scottish meter readers generally, and the tribunal found either an express oral term or, alternatively, an implied contractual term arising from a long-standing and consistent custom and practice. It described the practice as reasonable, notorious and certain, and noted that management would have seen the position from the Temetra system.

The tribunal found that the position changed in April 2024 when Workforce was introduced and the first 30 minutes of commuting time was no longer counted towards basic hours. On the claimant's evidence, this meant he had to work about an extra half hour a day for the same basic salary. However, the tribunal held that this did not create an unlawful deduction from wages. The claimant was entitled to his contractual basic salary for his basic hours, and he was not contractually entitled to additional pay for the extra time worked. Any claim for damages for breach of contract could not be determined by the tribunal while the employment continued.

The separate complaint of failure to pay the national minimum wage was not finally decided at this hearing. The tribunal accepted that, on a broad-brush calculation, the claimant worked about 184 hours per month from April 2024 and was paid £2,042.50 a month, which on its face equated to £11.10 per hour against the then National Living Wage of £11.44. It nevertheless held that actual liability could not be determined without evidence of the precise hours worked in each relevant pay reference period, so that issue was continued to a 1 day hearing to determine liability and remedy. The tribunal noted that the matter appeared capable of resolution between the parties.