Mr S Mohammed v RD&T Limited — 2025

Mr Mohammed was employed by RD&T Limited as a Chef de Partie from 27 April 2024. His pay changed on 31 May 2024 to an annual salary of £27,000, and the tribunal found that from June 2024 he worked well beyond his full-time hours, with the respondent aware of those additional hours from the rota and electronic timesheets. The tribunal accepted that the claimant had to clock in and out electronically and that the head chef approved the timesheets, but it also found that only the rotas informed payroll and that the contract did not provide for overtime.

The tribunal found that the claimant's contract stated an annual salary of £27,000, was silent on overtime, and included a term allowing additional or other duties as needed. It held that the incorrect reference to 20 hours per week in the contract did not create an entitlement to overtime payments. Applying section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the approach in New Century Cleaning Co v Church, the tribunal concluded that the claimant had not shown wages were 'properly payable' for the extra hours because there was no contractual entitlement to those sums.

The tribunal accepted that a conversation took place in or around October 2024 in which Mrs Shayer said the claimant might be paid in January and February 2025 if the restaurant closed, but it found that this was only a general and discretionary discussion. It was not persuaded that the respondent agreed to pay a specific amount for specified hours at a specified time, and therefore no enforceable legal obligation arose from that conversation. The claim for unlawful deduction of wages was therefore dismissed and no award was made.