Mr A Arshad v Boddice Accounting Limited — 2024

Mr A Arshad was employed by Boddice Accounting Limited as an assistant accountant and was due to be paid monthly on the last day of the month by bank transfer. The tribunal found that there were shortfalls in his salary from around July or August 2023, that he had been absent because of ill health and had not received statutory sick pay, and that the respondent then told him not to work until it could afford to pay him. He continued working, the respondent paid him sporadically when funds were available, and the business ceased trading on 27 April 2024. On 30 April 2024, when sums were due on termination, he received a payment of £300. After termination, he and Ms Boddice discussed how any shortfall might be repaid, and Ms Boddice initially made payments from her personal benefits income, but those stopped after 26 July 2024.

The tribunal treated the complaint as one under section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 for unauthorised deductions from wages. It found that the claim concerned a series of deductions, that the relevant last deduction was the short payment made on 30 April 2024, and that the claim should have been presented by 29 July 2024. Early conciliation did not begin until 12 August 2024 and the claim form was presented on 16 August 2024, so the claim was outside the three-month limit.

Applying the statutory question of whether it was reasonably practicable to present the claim in time, the tribunal found that Mr Arshad had been on enquiry about tribunal claims because he had already contacted ACAS before April 2024, was familiar with tribunal processes, and could have made online enquiries. It found no evidence that he was unable to present the claim in time, and it rejected his suggestion that Ms Boddice had deliberately stopped payments so that any claim would become time-barred. The tribunal therefore concluded that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the complaint and no remedy was awarded.