Kournavous v J.R Masterton & Sons (Demolition) Ltd
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 22 February 1990 |
| Date | 22 February 1990 |
| Court | House of Lords |
Employment Appeal Tribunal
Before Lord Mayfield, Mr B McAteer and Mr A J Ramsden,
Employment - wages - payment in lieu of notice
A payment in lieu of notice came within the definition of wages in section 7(1) of the Wages Act 1986 and an industrial tribunal had jurisdiction to consider a complaint by an employee that in failing to make such a payment his employers had made a deduction from his wages contrary to section 1(1) of the Act.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal sitting in Edinburgh so held when allowing an appeal by the employee, Manousos Kournavous, from the decision of a Glasgow industrial tribunal in August 1989 that they had no jurisdiction to hear his complaint against his employers, J R Masterton & Sons (Demolition) Ltd.
Section 7 of the 1986 Act provides: "(1) … `wages', in relation to a worker, means any sums payable to the worker by his employer in connection with his employment, including (a) any fee, bonus, commission, holiday pay or other emolument referable to his employment, whether payable under his contract or otherwise…"
Section 8 provides: "(3) Where the total amount of any wages that are paid on any occasion by an employer to any worker employed by him is less than the total amount of the wages that are properly payable … then, except in so far as the deficiency is attributable to an error of computation, the amount of the deficiency shall be treated … as a deduction made by the employer from the worker's wages on that occasion."
Mr Joe O'Hara, legal officer of the General Municipal Boilermakers, for the employee; the employers did not appear and were not represented.
LORD MAYFIELD said that the employee was involved in an industrial accident in 1985. He did not return to work and after a certain amount of correspondence his employers wrote to him in February 1989 terminating his employment.
The employee submitted to the industrial tribunal that he was entitled to notice on termination of his employment and, as notice had not been given, he was entitled to a sum appropriate to his wages and length of service; and that failure to pay such sum was a deduction in terms of section 1(1) of the Wages Act 1986.
The industrial tribunal took the view that payment in lieu of notice represented damages for breach of contract by the employers prematurely terminating the employee's contract and did not fall within the definition of wages.
But, the...
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... ... v. Dring [1990] I.C.R. 188 and Kournavous v. J. R. Masterton (Demolition) Ltd. [1990] I.C.R. 387 ... It follows ... ...
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... ... 786G–H ) ... Kournavous v. J. R. Masterton & Sons (Demolition) Ltd. [ 1990 ] I.C.R. 387 , ... ...