Date set for pay test case

A test case claim against Clugston alleging unlawful deductions from the wages of its employees is set to come before an Industrial Tribunal next week.

The case is being pursued by Ucatt. The union contends that the company has improperly made deductions from operatives' pay by failing fully to implement the terms of the current national building and civil engineering agreement. It is claimed that Clugston mitigated the effect of increases in basic rates of pay by a clawback reduction in bonus pay.

The employer's case is that any reference to "increases" in basic rates does not apply because the current deal represents an entirely new national agreement.

Ucatt general secretary George Brumwell commented: "It is the union's view that, where the working rule agreement is incorporated into contracts of employment, either explicitly or implicitly through custom and practice, the imposition of bonus clawback by an employer represents a breach of our members' contracts of employment."