Mrs H Frame v 365 Care Ltd: 4105320/2023
JUDGMENT
The Judgment of the Employment Tribunal delivered orally with reasons on 15 November 2023 was that: The claimant’s name is amended to “Mrs H Frame”.[2]The respondent unlawfully deducted sums from the claimant’s wages contrary to Section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The respondent is ordered to pay to the claimant the sum of £4,693 (Four Thousand, Six Hundred and Ninety Three Pounds) in respect thereof.[3]The respondent is ordered to pay to the claimant the sum of £2,468 (Two Thousand, Four Hundred and Sixty Eight Pounds) as compensation for accrued but untaken annual paid leave in terms of Regulation 16 of the Working Time Regulations 1998. The claimant’s name is amended to “Mrs H Frame”.[2]The respondent unlawfully deducted sums from the claimant’s wages contrary to Section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The respondent is ordered to pay to the claimant the sum of £2,192.30 (Two Thousand, One Hundred and Ninety Two Pounds and Thirty Pence) in respect thereof. (The sum is gross of tax and National Insurance.) The claim for holiday pay is dismissed.REASONS
[1]The claimant worked for the respondent as a registered manager from 1 October 2022 until her resignation took effect on 7 July 2023. Having complied with early conciliation requirements, she presented her claim to the Employment Tribunal on 4 September 2023. The claim was for arrears of pay and holiday pay. With regard to the former, section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 gives workers the right not to suffer unauthorised deductions from their wages. Under section 13(3) a deduction occurs where “the total amount of wages paid on any occasion by an employer to a worker employed by him is less than the total amount of the wages properly payable by him to the worker on that occasion.” The latter holiday pay claim was for annual leave accrued but untaken at termination of employment.[2]The claimant’s claim form was served on the respondent on 6 September 2023 along with a Notice that the hearing of the claim would take place by Cloud Video Platform on 15 November 2023. The respondent did not defend the claim. The claimant attended the hearing on 15 November and gave evidence. A Judgment was signed on the same date and sent to the parties on 16 November 2023.[3]On 23 November 2023 the respondent requested reconsideration of the Judgment on the grounds that the respondent’s principal director, Mr George Murevesi had died and his partner, Mavis Makurumure (now a director), had missed the court dates because she had had to go to Africa for the funeral and had been overwhelmed. She said she had struggled to obtain access to the business accounts and systems. It became clear from further correspondence inquiring about the grounds for seeking a reconsideration that the respondent accepted that sums were due to the claimant but disputed the amounts.[4]The reconsideration hearing took place today. The respondent had very recently instructed Ms Duffy to represent them. Unfortunately, they had not provided Ms Duffy with the electronic hearing file sent to them by the claimant. There was therefore an adjournment of 45 minutes to enable Ms Duffy to receive and read this and thereafter to take instructions. Prior to the adjournment a useful discussion took place. The claimant confirmed that her claim had originally been for payment of arrears of pay for the period from 18 May to 7 July 2023. She said she had arranged with Mr Murevesi that she would take three weeks’ annual leave from 16 June to 7 July 2023 and she had gone on leave as agreed on 16 June. However, she had then been suspended without pay by Mr Murevesi’s daughter Vimbai (who is the respondent’s Company Secretary) by letter dated 21 June 2023. The claimant stated that this was in breach of the respondent’s policies and that it had meant that she had been unable to enjoy her annual leave after 21 June. The claimant accepted that she had now been paid for the period from 18 May to 15 June (a total of £2,324.34) and that (subject to the effects of the suspension) she had been on annual leave from 16 June 2023 until her employment ended. She stated that her remaining claim was for £2,192.30 gross of tax and national insurance for the period of her leave taken from 16 June to 7 July 2023. This is a claim for arrears of pay rather that annual leave accrued but untaken at termination of employment. After the adjournment, Ms Duffy for the respondent confirmed that the respondent accepted that the sum of £2,192.30 was the correct sum remaining due and the claimant and the respondent agreed that the Judgment should be amended to show this as the amount due.[5]In these circumstances, and for the reasons given above, I consider that it is in the interests of justice to revoke the original decision dated 15 November 2023 and to substitute the current judgment in the agreed sum.