R G Carter Harleston Ltd v Jarvis & Ors

MR JUSTICE MUMMERY (PRESIDENT): This appeal is against the decision of the Industrial Tribunal held at Norwich on 7 and 26 April 1995. The case was heard by a Chairman alone. He decided that complaints by five Applicants under the Wages Act 1986 were well founded. The complaints were made against the Respondent, R.G. Carter Harleston Ltd. The case was adjourned for a further hearing on remedy.

The extended reasons for the Chairman's conclusion were notified to the parties on 25�May. R.G. Carter Harleston served a notice of appeal dated 3 July.

The appeal was argued by Mr Wallington, on behalf of the Appellants, and Mr�Hogarth, on behalf of the Respondents. Neither of them appeared in the Industrial Tribunal. We are grateful to them for the help on the unusual circumstances of this case.

The background to the case is that, on 6 August 1994, Mr Jarvis and other Applicants, who were self-employed sub-contractors in carpentry work under contracts with the Appellants, presented an application to the Industrial Tribunal complaining of unlawful deductions from wages on a continuous basis and wrongful assessment to Construction Industry Training Board levy.

"The company [the Appellants] stopped 2% of my wages for what they claim is a levy imposed by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) [and that is referred to as CITB in that document and by me from now on].