Mr D Christie v Bartley Building Renovation Limited — 2024

The claimant, Mr D Christie, brought a single claim for unauthorised deduction from wages against Bartley Building Renovation Limited. The hearing took place at London (South) via CVP on 25 February 2025 before Employment Judge Fredericks-Bowyer. The claimant did not attend; his representative briefly joined by telephone before being disconnected and did not rejoin. The judge proceeded under Rule 47 of the Employment Tribunal Rules 2024, declining to dismiss for non-attendance alone given the brief engagement, and continued after a ten-minute wait.

The respondent's project manager, Ms N Gordon, gave sworn evidence which the judge accepted as unchallenged. The tribunal found that the claimant was a worker of the respondent (as conceded by the respondent), that he was paid £80 for one observation day and thereafter by task rather than by an hourly rate of £15, that he attended work on 16 days over a five-week period, and that he had been paid for all tasks completed. The claimant's pleaded shortfall of £1,050.40 was based on an hourly calculation the tribunal did not accept as reflecting the actual pay arrangement.

Because the tribunal found as a fact that all work done had been paid, there could be no successful claim for unlawful deduction from wages, and the claim was dismissed.