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Northern Ireland
Rogers v Dorothy Barley School [2012] UKEAT 0013_12_1403
Published on: 20/04/2012
Issues Covered:
Pay
Article Authors The main content of this article was provided by the following authors.
Background This case concerned an appeal by Mr David Rogers arising from his claim brought to the Employment Tribunals Service against his employer, the Dorothy Barley School. Mr Rogers is the long-serving caretaker at the school, and as a benefit of his employment he occupies the school caretaker's house. The Claimant asserted that his contract of employment stated that he would not pay for water supplied to the house – this was his employer‟s responsibility. When presented with a bill for water supplies. Mr Rogers complained to the employment Tribunal that his wages had been unlawfully deducted and that his contract had been breached. Under Part II Employment Rights Act 1996 it is unlawful for an employer to deduct sums from an employee‟s wages unless the deduction is required or authorised by statute or a provision in their contract, or the worker has given prior written consent to the deduction. A deduction occurs if the worker receives less than 100% of the wages that they are entitled to under their contract of employment.The Employment Tribunal rejected Mr Rogers‟ complaints and ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to hear his complaint of unlawful deduction from wages as there had in fact been no deduction. Further, it did not have jurisdiction to hear Mr Rogers‟ claim for breach of contract as it did not involve issues of termination of employment. Mr Rogers should have presented his claim to the County Court instead of the Employment Tribunal.The Employment Appeal Tribunal also dismissed Mr Roger‟s appeal on the basis that it did not have jurisdiction to hear his claim. The Employment Appeal Tribunal did not see fit to 76award costs against Mr Rogers on the grounds that the claim was misconceived. There had been no warning by the Respondent that it would apply for costs and no schedule of costs had been supplied to the Appellant before the hearing. Further, the school had precipitated the case by directing the water bill to the Appellant in the first place.Employers should note the following: The Employment Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to deal with unlawful deduction from wages claims where there is in fact no deduction from wages The Employment Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to deal with breach of contract claims where the alleged breach of contract does not involve issues relating to the termination of the contract of employment. To pursue in an application for costs the other party must be notified of the intention to apply for costs, a schedule of costs should be supplied, and the applicant should not be responsible for the case itselfhttp://bit.ly/HMDofU

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Disclaimer The information in this article is provided as part of Legal Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article. This article is correct at 20/04/2012
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