Former Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy has substantially succeeded in an employment tribunal claim against his former club for unlawful deductions from his wages contrary to section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Mr Mendy was remanded in custody following a number of allegations of serious sexual offences and subject to a Football Association ban preventing him from taking part in any football-related activity. Ultimately, Mr Mendy was cleared of all criminal charges.
The overall period of claim included two periods when Mr Mendy was remanded in custody. Outside these periods, he was prevented from fulfilling his contractual obligations (including training and playing) both because of his FA suspension and by his bail conditions.
The Judge commented “I doubt that quite so much legal expertise and endeavour has ever before been expended in the prosecution and defence of a wages claim brought by a single claimant. But then, I am also fairly sure that no other single claimant has ever alleged that sums in the region of £11 million have been deducted from his wages.”
Having conducted an analysis of previous case law on the meaning of an individual being “ready, able and willing” to work, Judge Dunlop found that Mr Mendy was ready and willing to work during the non-custody periods, and was prevented from doing so by impediments which were unavoidable or involuntary on his part. In those circumstances, and as there was no express contractual authorisation for the Club to withhold pay, Mr Mendy was entitled to be paid. In contrast, during the periods when he was remanded in custody, his inability to perform the contract was, in part, due to his own culpable actions in breaching his bail conditions. The Club was entitled to withhold pay for those periods.
Mr Mendy’s basic annual salary was £6 million. He sought unpaid wages of around £11 million. As his claim succeeded for approximately 17 months of the 22-month period in question, he is expected to be awarded in the region of £8.5 million. The judge has written to the parties to ensure they act in a timely way to agree the sums due.
