Mr G Anoche v LJ Health and Wellbeing Ltd and Jacksonwell Recruitment Ltd: 2403117/2024
JUDGMENT
[1]The claimant is successful in his claim for unpaid wages. The first respondent, LJ Health and Wellbeing Ltd, is ordered to pay to the claimant £132.80 in unpaid wages payable straight away.[2]The second respondent is dismissed from these proceedings.[3]The claimant brought claims of race discrimination against the respondents but has failed to provide any evidence of this to the Tribunal. Those claims are hereby dismissed.REASONS
[1]Mr Anoche’s claim is one of 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 company and directly from the director, Mr Liam Jackson, but have been unsuccessful. Both the first and the second respondent remain active companies according to the Companies House register.[2]The fourteen claims are being heard together in the Tribunal. This judgment relates solely to Mr Anoche. It was the submission to the Tribunal of another claimant that there might have been a transfer of that claimant’s employment from the first respondent to the second respondent, Jacksonwell Recruitment Limited, in February 2024. However, Mr Anoche stopped working for the first respondent quite some time before the second respondent was incorporated as a company (on 1 February 2024) and there is no evidence that Mr Anoche was ever engaged by Jacksonwell, the second respondent, or that there was any transfer of his contract to them. The second respondent is therefore dismissed from the proceedings.[3]Neither respondent submitted a valid response to the claims on time. The claims are therefore not defended.[4]There was a case management hearing on 22 July 2024 at which the claims were clarified. The claimants, including Mr Anoche, 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.[5]As the claimant did not attend the hearing today or provide the Tribunal with any further evidence of his race discrimination claims, the race discrimination claims are dismissed.[6]Mr Anoche’s evidence is that he was underpaid £11.80 for a shift on 6 and 7 October 2023 and not paid at all for a shift on 24/25 December 2023, which was for £121. His total claim is for £132.80. This claim is not defended and so the first respondent is to pay Mr Anoche £132.80 straight away.[7]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 Mr Anoche needs to take steps to enforce the judgment against the first respondent. Information about how to do this in the letter accompanying this judgment, and he is reminded of the availability of free advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau to assist him in any steps he may choose to take.