Woodflow Panels Ltd

Case Summary

The claimant claimed unpaid wages for work carried out before his official employment start date as Financial Controller. The tribunal found the claimant performed work worth 2 days' pay (approximately 16 hours of training, setup work, and ad hoc tasks requested by the respondent between March and May 2025) prior to his contract commencing on 19 May 2025. The tribunal upheld the claim and awarded £269.90 for 2 days' work at £134.60 per day, calculated on his annual salary of £35,000.

The tribunal found that the claimant performed substantive work at the request of the respondent (Oracle training, chart of accounts setup, software queries, and banking inquiries) prior to his official employment commencement date, totalling approximately 16 hours of work which equated to 2 days' work. This work was carried out at the respondent's direction and the claimant was entitled to payment for it under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

• •Whether claimant carried out work prior to official employment commencement
• •What work was performed and when
• •Entitlement to payment for pre-employment work
• •Quantum of wages owed

1 EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS Claimant Respondent Mr S Rafiq v Woodflow Panels Ltd Heard at: Sheffield (by video link – Kinly Cloud) On: 30 April 2026 Before: Employment Judge James Representation For the Claimant: Represented himself For the Respondent: Mr R Zeynel, company director JUDGMENT (1) The claim for unpaid wages (s.13 Employment Rights Act 1996) is upheld. The claimant is entitled to be paid for 2 days work, a total of £269.90. REASONS The issues 1. The issues which the tribunal had to determine are: 1.1. Did the claimant carry out work for the respondent prior to his employment officially commencing? 1.2. If so, what, and when? 1.3. Is the claimant entitled to be paid for that work? 1.4. If so, how much is he entitled to be paid? The proceedings 2. Acas Early Conciliation took place between 1 August and 17 September 2025. The claim form was issued on 23 September 2025. The claimant makes a claim for unpaid wages. 2 The hearing 3. The hearing took place over 2 hours. Evidence and submissions on liability and remedy were heard from the claimant and Mr Zeynel. Both provided documents before the hearing, which were considered beforehand and some of which were referred to and discussed at the hearing. Findings of fact 4. Between January 2025 and February 2025 the claimant had three interviews with Woodflow Panels for the position of Financial Controller. The first interview was with the then Head of Sales, Olga Ellis. The second and third interviews were with Rami Zeynel and Ms Ellis. 5. During the third interview, there was a discussion about where the claimant’s place of work would be. The claimant was given two possible options. One was to work in Leeds, in which case the claimant would be given a…