Background:

The claimant worked for the respondent as a ‘groom’ and her contract was brought to an end in December 2021 with one month notice.  The claimant outlined that she was paid until the end of January 2022 thus complying with that right.  However, the claimant then did some work in early February under the title of a ‘freelance’ groom.  The contract of employment (which had come to an end) was paid under the apprentice rate.  The issue was the payment for the work (26.75 hours) that had been carried out in February.

Outcome:

The Tribunal dealt with this rather neat issue by examining the respondent’s response.  The respondent stated that the claimant was freelance and that was to be taken at being the ‘development rate’ for those aged 18-20 rather than being treated as the apprentice rate.  As this was financially in favour of the claimant this was accepted.  Accordingly, an order was made for £175.48 for the claimant for unlawful deduction from wages.

Practical Guidance for Employers:

This case dealt with a fairly neat issue in relation to unlawful deduction from wages.  Whilst there was no issue raised about the employment status of the individual and it seemed to be some lag from the contract that had ended.  However, on the issue of the rate of pay the Tribunal was able to deal with this in favour of the claimant arising from the respondent’s submissions on the matter and their classification of the work carried out.  This should be considered should issues like this arise.
https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions/ms-k-pole-v-ms-c-bajwa-3308843-slash-2022