Brookes v Stanbridge (trading as Exact Vending Services)

Employment tribunal – Procedure. In considering the employee's claim for unlawful deduction from wages, the employment tribunal had taken it upon itself to find that the employer had breached his obligation to provide the employee with a statement of the principal terms and conditions of her employment, a claim which was not made in the employee's ET1. The Employment Appeal Tribunal, in allowing the employer's appeal, held, inter alia, that the tribunal had erred in raising and adjudicating upon that claim when the employer had neither notice of it nor an opportunity to respond. Further, the tribunal had failed to identify any statutory defences that there might have been.