Tax and deductions from pay

New and updated

• Date:

  15 November 1993

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Wages Act: Tribunal must decide contractual entitlement

  Where employees argue that they have not received the full pay to which they are entitled and that this amounts to an unlawful deduction under the Wages Act, the industrial tribunal must first determine any dispute about what wages are properly payable under the contract, the EAT confirms in Yemm and others v British Steel plc.

• Date:

  1 July 1993

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Discount Tobacco & Confectionery Ltd v Williamson

  In Discount Tobacco & Confectionery Ltd v Williamson [1993] IRLR 327 EAT, the EAT upheld an employment tribunal's decision that in order for a deduction to be lawful, it is not sufficient that the employee gives written consent before the deduction is made. The employee's written agreement must have been given before the conduct or event giving rise to the deduction.

• Date:

  1 January 1993

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Pepper (HM Inspector of Taxes) v Hart and others

  In Pepper (HM Inspector of Taxes) v Hart and others [1993] IRLR 33 HL, the House of Lords held that in-house benefits, and particularly concessionary school fees for teachers' children, should be assessed for tax on the basis of the additional or marginal cost to the employer of providing the benefit.

• Date:

  1 January 1993

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Fairfield Ltd v Skinner

  In Fairfield Ltd v Skinner [1993] IRLR 4 EAT, the EAT held that there must be justification for making a deduction from wages, even when authority has been given in the contract.

• Date:

  15 March 1992

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Wages Act: Agreement did not authorise deduction of training costs

  An agreement under which an employee was liable to repay a proportion of a training course fee to his employer if his employment terminated within a certain period did not specifically authorise repayment by way of a deduction from wages, holds the EAT in Potter v Hunt Contracts Ltd.

• Date:

  8 March 1991

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Contracts of employment: Doctors' hours under attack

  An employer's right to require overtime from an employee who is under a contractual obligation to be "on call" for a specified number of hours in excess of his basic working week, is subject to the employer's implied duty to take reasonable care not to injure its employee's health, holds the Court of Appeal in Johnstone v Bloomsbury Health Authority.

• Date:

  31 December 1990

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Glynn v Commissioner of Inland Revenue

  In Glynn v Commissioner of Inland Revenue [1990] 2 WLR 633, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council found that school fees paid on behalf of an employee were a taxable benefit.

• Date:

  1 April 1986

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Coales v John Wood & Co (Solicitors)

  In Coales v John Wood & Co [1986] IRLR 129 EAT, the EAT held that the obligation on an employer to provide an employee with a written itemised pay statement at or before the time at which any payment of wages or salary is made is an absolute one and is not conditional upon the employee requesting such a statement.

• Date:

  31 December 1985

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Postcastle Properties Ltd v Perridge

  In Postcastle Properties Ltd v Perridge [1985] 276 EG 1063 CA, the Court of Appeal held that an occupier of premises who had been the employee of the then owners when his occupation began was a tenant. Whether or not he had originally been granted a tenancy or a licence, the evidence showed the grant by the subsequent owners of a service tenancy.

• Date:

  31 December 1985

  Type:

  Employment law cases

  Street v Mountford

  In Street v Mountford [1985] AC 809 HL, the House of Lords held that an agreement that provided for exclusive occupation for a rent was a tenancy, although it had been described as a licence. Circumstances where a person with exclusive occupation will not be a tenant include where an employee occupies his employer's premises in order to perform his duties as an employee.