An employment tribunal has ruled that Phoenix Healthcare and Rentacar 24/7 must pay £2,912.19 in unpaid wages and additional compensation after finding they underpaid a former employee
M Piekielniak was employed as a driver transporting carers between jobs by Phoenix Healthcare from 2 May 2021, and when not busy, would support the maintenance of Rentacar 24/7’s vehicles.
Piekielniak, who has dyslexia, said he was unable to use Phoenix Healthcare’s system for logging hours, which was managed via a mobile phone app. He resorted to recording his working hours on paper, and then sending a photo of this via WhatsApp to his employer Hussein or one of the office team.
He then realised he was not receiving pay slips from June 2021 until his employment termination with Phoenix Healthcare in autumn 2021, despite Hussein showing him where to access them on the app, and was underpaid even though he had worked just under 400 hours that month.
Piekielniak began to receive pay slips from Rentacar 24/7 from October 2021 and was also enrolled into a pension scheme without consultation or information provided to him. His employment was then terminated in February 2022.
The tribunal ruled that the two businesses made unauthorised deductions from Piekielniak’s wages, failed to pay him for the hours he had worked, and did not provide a written statement of employment terms.
Employment Judge Forde said: “Although disputed by Hussein, I find that the claimant was unable to use the app and that Hussein was aware of this. I find that the claimant did as much as he could to find out more about his payments.”
The two businesses were ordered to pay Piekielniak £2,912.19 for unpaid wages. Phoenix Healthcare was also required to pay £810, pursuant to section 38 Employment Act 2002, for failure to issue a written statement of employment particulars.
Phoenix Healthcare and Rentacar 24/7 have been contacted for comment prior to publication.