Ronnie Blair v George Burr

An Employment Tribunal errs in dismissing an unlawful-deduction claim in its entirety where the pleaded particulars identify a distinct period of alleged unpaid wages which the tribunal has not considered or determined. The proper course is to remit that discrete issue for determination. An allegation not asserted in the ET1 cannot found an error of law merely because the tribunal did not address it.

The claimant appealed the Employment Tribunal’s decision of 16 June 2023 dismissing his claim for unlawful deduction from wages. The tribunal treated the claim as one for notice-period wages and defamation, and rejected the wages claim.

The ET1 particulars also alleged that wages for 1 to 18 November 2022 had not been paid, with deductions made for a hotel room and alleged vehicle damage. The claimant contended that the tribunal had not addressed that distinct claim. The central issue was whether the tribunal had failed to determine a pleaded part of the wages claim.

1. Appeal allowed in part and remitted. The Employment Tribunal’s dismissal of the wages claim could not stand insofar as it disposed of the allegation of unpaid wages between 1 and 18 November 2022.
2. The ET1, although marked as a notice-pay claim, expressly alleged non-payment for that period and identified deductions. That was a distinct aspect of the pleaded wages claim.
3. The tribunal’s findings and conclusions addressed the uncertain notice period and the asserted entitlement to wages up to 2 December 2022. They were silent on the alleged unpaid wages from 1 to 18 November 2022. Dismissing the wages claim in its entirety without determining that pleaded issue was an error of law.
4. The suggestion that wages were due before 1 November 2022 disclosed no error of law, because no such claim had been asserted in the ET1.
5. The case was remitted to the same Employment Tribunal solely to determine the claim for unpaid wages between 1 and 18 November 2022.

• Employment Appeal Tribunal: Appeal allowed in part. The case was remitted to the same Employment Tribunal for determination of the alleged unpaid wages from 1 to 18 November 2022.
• Employment Tribunal: By a decision dated 16 June 2023, dismissed the claimant’s unlawful-deduction-from-wages claim.