Mr C Wood v Buridan Network Limited HELD AT: Newcastle CVP — 2024

Employment Judge Booth, sitting alone at Newcastle CVP, first granted the respondent an extension of time to present its ET3 response, accepting that a change of registered office address and the respondent's house move had prevented earlier service from coming to its attention. The Tribunal also confirmed that the claimant's complaints had been presented within the statutory time limits and that it had jurisdiction to hear them.

On the substantive claims, the Tribunal upheld the complaint of unauthorised deduction from wages, finding that the claimant had worked 14 days between 1 and 20 May 2024 at a daily rate of £153.84 gross and had not been paid the sum due on 31 May 2024. The Tribunal concluded that the contractual deduction clause was not binding because the claimant had not signed the contract using the prescribed method of acceptance, and that his continued work amounted to a counter-offer accepted by the respondent. The holiday pay claim under regulation 14(2) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 was also upheld, with one day of accrued but untaken leave owed at £153.84 gross.

The breach of contract claim for notice pay was dismissed. The Tribunal found, applying the principles in Pepper v Webb, that the claimant's conduct in accusing Mr Atkinson of lying, in the context of the events leading up to that statement, was a fundamental breach of contract amounting to gross misconduct, releasing the respondent from any obligation to give notice. The total sum payable to the claimant under the two upheld claims was £2,307.60 gross.