Mr O Obazee and others v LJ Health and Wellbeing Ltd and Jacksonwell Recruitment Ltd: 2401126/2024 and others
JUDGMENT
[1]The first claimant Mr Obazee is successful in his claim for unpaid wages against the first respondent and it is ordered to pay him £470.53 straight away.[2]The second claimant Mrs Onwuamaoke is successful in her claim for unpaid wages against the first respondent and it is ordered to pay her £440.81 straight away.[3]The third claimant Mrs Osarenkhoe is successful in her claim for unpaid wages against the first respondent and it is ordered to pay her £415.14 straight away.[4]The fourth claimant Mrs Olowu did not provide any evidence of her claims to the Tribunal and also did not attend the hearing. Her claims are hereby dismissed.[5]The fifth claimant Mrs Adesanya is successful in her claim for unpaid wages against the first respondent and it is ordered to pay her £476.35 straight away.[6]The sixth claimant Mr Obi did not provide any evidence of his claims to the Tribunal and also did not attend the hearing. His claims are hereby dismissed.[7]The second respondent is dismissed from these proceedings.[8]The claimants brought claims of race discrimination against the first respondent but have failed to provide any evidence of this to the Tribunal. Those claims are hereby dismissed.REASONS
[1]These claims are amongst fourteen claims against the respondents, arising out of a period in the second half of 2023 and early 2024 when a number of care workers worked for the respondents but were either not paid at all, or paid only a small amount of wages. They have attempted to obtain payment from the respondents and directly from a director, Mr Liam Jackson, but have been unsuccessful. Both the first and the second respondent remain active companies according to the Companies House register. They continue to refuse to engage with the Tribunal claims and the claimants.[2]The fourteen claims are being heard together in the Tribunal. This judgment relates solely to the six claimants who all brought claims together with Mr Obazee as the lead claimant, by an ET1 form sent to the Tribunal on 16 February 2024. One of the other claimants (not dealt with in this judgment) thought that there might have been a transfer of his employment from the first respondent to the second respondent, Jacksonwell Recruitment Limited, in February 2024. However on consideration of the evidence before me it is clear that all six claimants in these proceedings stopped working for LJ Health and Wellbeing Ltd before Jacksonwell Recruitment was incorporated as a company on 1 February 2024, save for Mrs Onwuamaoke, and so can have no claim against Jacksonwell Recruitment Limited, the second respondent. Mrs Onwuamaoke did work on 4 February 2024, but her evidence clearly indicates that she was engaged by the first respondent. The second respondent is therefore dismissed from these claims.[3]Neither respondent submitted a valid response to the claims on time. The claims are therefore not defended.[4]All six claimants whose claims are dealt with in this judgment and reasons have brought claims for unpaid wages and race discrimination. Their claims of direct race discrimination against the respondents are on the basis that Black Nigerian workers such as themselves were not paid when others were.[5]There was a case management hearing on 22 July 2024 at which the claims were clarified. The claimants were asked, by 19 August 2024, to provide evidence of their wages claims and their claims of race discrimination. Today’s hearing was a further opportunity for them to provide evidence and submissions to the Tribunal.[6]As the claimants did not attend the hearing today or provide the Tribunal with any further evidence of their race discrimination claims, the race discrimination claims are dismissed. Mr Obazee[7]Mr Obazee had already provided me with evidence in the form of signed timesheets to show that he worked for the respondent from 25 December 2023 to 26 January 2024, doing a total of 65.5 hours work. He did not provide information about his hourly rate of pay and so will be compensated at the National Minimum Wage rate in force at the time which was £10.42 per hour. He was paid £281.60 by the first respondent on 26 January 2024 but not the rest of the money owed to him, which is £400.91.[8]All workers are entitled to statutory minimum holiday pay based on a full-time entitlement of 28 days per year. Based on his working time of 65.5 hours over a five-week period, he has accrued 0.51 weeks’ holiday, which with an average weekly working time of 13.1 hours per week means he is entitled to receive holiday pay of 13.1 hours x 0.51 weeks x £10.42, which is £69.62. This is added to his unpaid wages of £400.91 to give a total amount of wages owed of £470.53, which is payable immediately by the first respondent LJ Health and Wellbeing Ltd. Mrs Onwuamaoke[9]Mrs Onwuamaoke claims for 38 hours worked on 14 January, 20 January and 4 February 2024 for which she has provided evidence in the form of signed timesheets. However, there is no evidence of how long either of her “waking nights” were and so I have not been able to compensate her for either of these nights. She has also not given me any information about her hourly rate of pay and so will be compensated at the National Minimum Wage rate in force at the time which was £10.42 per hour. Her unpaid wages are therefore 38 x £10.42 = £395.96[10]She has also sent me a copy of her contract of employment which acknowledges her right to holiday pay as part of her wages. Her contract says that she is not entitled to any separate payment for annual leave other than her hourly rate, but as she is being paid at the national minimum wage for these purposes, her holiday pay must be calculated in addition to this. All workers are entitled to statutory minimum holiday pay based on a full-time entitlement of 28 days per year.[11]Based on her working time of 38 hours over a three-week period, she has accrued 0.34 weeks’ holiday, which with an average weekly working time of 12.67 hours per week means she is entitled to receive holiday pay of 12.67 hours x 0.34 weeks x £10.42, which is £44.85. This is added to her unpaid wages of £395.96 to give a total amount of wages owed of £440.81, which is payable immediately by the first respondent LJ Health and Wellbeing Ltd. Mrs Osarenkhoe[12]Mrs Osarenhkoe claims for 34 hours worked on from 21 January to 26 January 2024 for which she has provided evidence in the form of signed timesheets. Her hourly rate of pay was £11 according to a draft payslip which she has submitted. She is owed 34 x £11 = £374.[13]She worked for 7 days and so has accrued 0.11 week’s holiday based on a 28- day annual leave entitlement. She worked 34 hours in that week and so her holiday pay is 34 x 0.11 = 3.74 hours, which at £11 per hour is £41.14. This will be added to her wages claim to make a total of £415.14, which is payable immediately by the first respondent LJ Health and Wellbeing Ltd. Mrs Olowu[14]Mrs Olowu has provided no evidence to the Tribunal either of her unpaid wages or her discrimination claims. The Tribunal is therefore unable to award her compensation and her claims are dismissed. Mrs Adesanya[15]Mrs Adesanya worked on 7, 9, 10 and 21 January 2024 for which she has provided evidence in the form of signed timesheets, a total of 41 hours. However, there is no evidence of whether she was owed payment for either of her “sleeps in” or how this would be calculated and so I have not been able to compensate her for either of these nights. She has also not given me any information about her hourly rate of pay and so will be compensated at the National Minimum Wage rate in force at the time which was £10.42 per hour. Her unpaid wages is therefore 41 x £10.42 = £427.22[16]All workers are entitled to statutory minimum holiday pay based on a full-time entitlement of 28 days per year. Based on her working time of 41 hours over a two-week period, she has accrued 0.23 weeks’ holiday, which with an average weekly working time of 20.5 hours per week means she is entitled to receive holiday pay of 20.5 hours x 0.23 weeks x £10.42, which is £49.13. This is added to her unpaid wages of £427.22 to give a total amount of wages owed of £476.35, which is payable immediately by the first respondent LJ Health and Wellbeing Ltd. Mr Obi[17]Mr Obi has provided no evidence to the Tribunal either of his unpaid wages or his discrimination claims. The Tribunal is therefore unable to award him compensation and his claims are dismissed.[18]It is hoped that the first respondent complies with its legal obligation to pay the amount ordered in this judgment. However, given the lack of engagement by the respondents in these proceedings, it may be that the claimants need to take steps to enforce the judgment against the first respondent. Information about how to do this in the letter accompanying this judgment, but they are reminded of the availability of free advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau to assist them in any steps they may choose to take, such as issuing a statutory demand or otherwise.