As he signs off for the summer, Ian Smith reflects on complex matters of interpretation, prohibited conduct & part-time status
- National minimum wage: whether wage deductions were for a company’s own use and benefit (Commissioners for Revenue and Customs v Lees of Scotland Ltd [2024] EAT 120).
- Prohibited conduct: instructing, causing or inducing discrimination (Bailey v Stonewall Equality Ltd [2024] EAT 119).
- Part-time workers: whether the less favourable treatment must be ‘solely’ due to that status (Augustine v Data Cars Ltd [2024] EAT 117).
Fiat justitia et ruat coelum, as they always say in the pubs here in East Suffolk. This ancient injunction (let justice be done though the heavens fall) is usually invoked in major cases on high policy, but it could equally be relevant in the case of Commissioners for Revenue and Customs v Lees of Scotland Ltd [2024] EAT 120 applying a stringent approach to payment of the national minimum wage (NMW) which, it was accepted, hit an employer with no evil intent and resulted in the closure of a scheme meant to benefit the workers
