Mrs Yang’s restaurant in Douglas has been ordered to pay a former employee over £2,400.
The employment and equality tribunal ruled that Zizhe Dai had unlawful deductions made from his wages and holiday pay.
The panel heard that Mr Dai stated that he had not been paid his wages for the period from April 1 to May 8 2024.
Mr Dai also claimed that he had not been paid for unused holidays in 2023 or 2024.
The panel agreed, but did say that the restaurant had acted “more than reasonably” towards Mr Dai throughout his employment given the strange circumstances that arose.
Rent
The tribunal said that Mr Dai had used an agency to find and apply for the job as a chef at the restaurant and had been provided with accommodation, which the rent included utility bills being deducted from wages.
Mr Dai stated that he had paid Mr Li £600 rent for the period March 25 2024 to May 8 2024 and that he didn’t owe anything for utility bills as it had been agreed that these were included in the rent.
However, an unusually high electricity bill, which he said was a result of two people living there, later led to an issue about unpaid wages.
Mrs Li confirmed that wages were due for the period April 1 2024 to May 8 2024 but that she had not paid them because she maintained that Mr Dai owed rent and that the last electric bill was very high and so he should pay towards it.
Both parties confirmed that it had been agreed that rent would be deducted from wages, although there was nothing on the wage slips to indicate this arrangement.
Not a Chef
Despite being hired as a chef, Mrs Li said Mr Dai was not a chef and had instead been deployed to kitchen duties such as washing up as well as providing cheap accommodation, and meals at work, keeping him on in the kitchen and providing training when he was not a chef as had been required.
Ruling
Chair of the tribunal Felicity Kniveton said that the tribunal did not have powers to deal with issues of unpaid rent or whether Mr Dai was a chef or not, it was only there to decide if he had suffered unlawful deductions.
Mrs Kniveton said that Mr & Mrs Li “appear to have acted more than reasonably in keeping Mr Dai in work given that they had required a chef and it was that post that had;- wages of £21,000 pa, accommodation and meals”.
However, she ultimately ruled that he has suffered unlawful deductions worth a total of £2,408, plus £79.12 for holiday pay.
In total, Mr Dai was awarded £2,487.12.
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