Benjamin Mendy: Did Manchester City score a £10m own goal by withholding wages?

Former Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy this week launched proceedings against his former employer in the Employment Tribunal for unauthorised deductions from wages.  

The club suspended Mendy without pay following his criminal charges of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault in September 2021.  

The left-back was eventually found not guilty of any of the charges in July this year, although his playing contract expired the month prior.

The default legal position is that an employer cannot withhold wages from an employee unless they are permitted to do so under the relevant employment contract, via prior written consent of the employee or as per statute.

While his contract is not currently in the public domain, given that he has launched these legal proceedings, one would have to assume that Mendy believes there was no contractual provision permitting Manchester City to withhold payment during suspension. 

For the same reasoning, a further assumption would be that he did not give any prior written consent for them to do so. There is no applicable statute that would permit a deduction in these circumstances, therefore his argument will be that Manchester City unlawfully deducted wages.

Mendy had three months to bring his claim in the Employment Tribunal from the date of the last unlawful deduction, so there does not appear to be an issue on timing.  

In addition to this, the two-year backstop on these sorts of claims does not come into play given that the first deduction was around September 2021 when he was initially suspended and the final one was presumably around June 2023 when his contract expired.

Unfortunately for Manchester City, there is no upper limit to the financial value of a claim for unlawful deductions from wages in the Employment Tribunal – unlike a claim for ordinary unfair dismissal, for example.  

To that end, if Mendy is successful, he would stand to recover 100 per cent of the wages – reportedly as much as £10m – deducted during this time. 

However, until we have sight of the relevant contract and/or evidence of any prior written consent that gave Manchester City the right to deduct Mendy’s wages, it is hard to see what their defence could be.

From what is currently in the public domain, it is likely that Mendy will be successful in his claim.

While the sums involved are clearly much greater than your typical unlawful deductions claim, the law remains the same: without using one of three narrow exceptions, an employer cannot deduct wages from an employee.  

This is a stark reminder to employers that even when you suspend an employee, the default is that you should suspend with pay.

To protect against cases like this, especially in fixed-term contracts common in sport, inserting express break clauses can protect clubs against circumstances of criminal prosecutions. Alternatively, they could have looked to include a clause stating the suspension will be without pay or at least involve a significantly reduced salary.

Harry Abrams is an Employment Partner at JMW Solicitors in London