Workplace Report February 2002

Features: Law at work

Car mileage allowances

An employer's refusal to continue to pay car mileage allowances cannot be claimed as an unlawful deduction from wages, under Part 11 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It does not matter whether the allowance in question is a fixed amount paid annually or based on actual car mileage. The only legal recourse an employee has is to take a breach of contract claim, if the allowance was contractual.

* Dundee City Council v Robertson EAT/595/01