- IN PERSON FOR THE v - Mr E Nieburg — 2026

Ms McGarrigle brought a sole claim of unlawful deduction from wages. She claimed £1,728 for 97 additional tennis-coaching hours at £18 per hour. The tribunal accepted her record of the total hours worked, particularly because her former manager, Mr Paxton, acknowledged that not all her hours had been entered on the respondent’s HR system, but held that this did not establish a right to payment for every additional hour claimed.

The contract contained no express right to paid overtime. The tribunal held that its express terms required Ms McGarrigle to perform the variable hours necessary for her ordinary rota duties, so no term providing paid overtime could be implied for ordinary coaching duties taking more than 15 hours in a week. For work outside her ordinary coaching duties and core hours, however, the tribunal found it obvious that the parties would have intended her to be paid when asked to cover additional shifts. It therefore implied a term entitling her to payment at the appropriate rate for such hours. She was also entitled to payment for core shifts omitted from the HR system. The reference in Mr Paxton’s document to sickness was treated as referring to additional shifts covering other employees’ sickness absence.

The tribunal treated Mr Paxton’s acknowledgment of 38 hours as the best evidence of the additional and unrecorded core hours attracting payment. It found insufficient evidence that the balance of the 97 hours attracted extra pay. The respondent could not set off paid hours that Ms McGarrigle had not performed because she was entitled to be paid for hours she worked or was available to work up to 15 hours per week. The unlawful deduction from wages claim was upheld, and the respondent was ordered to pay £684, calculated as 38 hours at £18 per hour.