Dundee oil and gas firm ordered to pay worker £13,500 of unpaid wages and redundancy payment

A Dundee-based oil and gas firm has been ordered to pay more than £13,500 to a worker for non-payment of wages and redundancy money.

Lewis Jackson, 37, was employed by Eljay Well Services Limited — a petroleum and natural gas extraction company — as a well control supervisor and well services supervisor between February 2011 and June this year.

However, the company — which had registered offices at Thorntons in Dundee — hit financial trouble, which initially resulted in staff members being offered wage cuts and eventually led to the company ceasing trading and entering voluntary insolvency.

At an employment tribunal held in Dundee, employment judge Murdo MacLeod ordered the defunct company to fork out the sum to Mr Jackson, who is from Aberdeen, to cover unpaid redundancy pay, unpaid notice pay and also unlawful deductions from wages.

Eljay Well Services Limited director Sandra Johnstone did not dispute that Mr Jackson was owed money — but the amount being claimed for was contested.

She also said that there were no available funds that could be used to rectify the situation.

Judge MacLeod praised both parties for their conduct throughout the tribunal, saying that both had approached the proceedings in a “straightforward manner”.

He found in favour of Mr Jackson, saying he was entitled to four weeks’ notice pay totalling £2,885.

He also said Mr Jackson was entitled to £5,760 in redundancy payments.

Judge MacLeod found that Mr Jackson was also owed two months’ wages — from October and November last year —which totalled £2,276. Similarly, it was found that Mr Jackson was entitled to a week’s pay from May this year.

In total, Judge MacLeod ordered Eljay Well Services Limited to pay £13,500.

He said: “I found the claimant to be straightforward in his evidence, and I believed him when he said he had sustained losses in October 2016.

“Owing to the fact that no payslips were available it was not possible to verify those losses.

“However, I accept the claimant’s evidence on this. In doing so, I do not find that Mrs Johnstone was in any way untruthful or unhelpful in her evidence, but she was mistaken.”