Wages issue

[Gaz74205]

Hi folks,

I'm having some issues with my company and there inability to process wages correctly.

i recently (mid november) moved from day shift, monday to friday, to a night shift pattern that includes weekends. obviously i'm not doing this for nothing and my wages are rising by 25%. or they should be.

I was again assured that the change would be made on my december wage. specifically the 20th, which is the day we are paid. this didnt happen.

normally this wouldnt be a big issue, mistakes happen, you raise the issue and it gets sorted.

the issue is that this is not an isolated incident. it seems to be the norm. a mate who a while back was promoted waited 5 months for them to sort his wages out. and there are various other examples. i'm understandably not prepared to wait that long.

now i have received my january payslip, no increase, and also no overtime payment. the paperwork was submitted correctly and on time, yet the money is not on my wages.

again.

now the reason this is really starting to get to me is that it is starting to cost me money.

i had bought some stuff on one of those pay nothing for x months deals. this deal also meant that as long as the balance was paid by a certain date, the end of the pay nothing period, there would be no interest charged.

now this period has expired, and due to be missing hundreds of pounds from my wages, have not been able to pay it off and will now be charged differed interest. that is, interest calculated from the start of the pay nothing period.

as such i have 2 questions.

1) what actions can i take to express my extreme displeasure with this? and ensure this is corrected ASAP? is this breach of contract on my employers part?

2) can i bill my employer for the interest i will now be charged as a result of not being able to discharge this debt on account of not being paid my correct wages?

i'm not back at work till wednesday night, but intend to be at my managers door monday morning to complain, and would like to know where i stand.

 

thanks!

[Sidewinder]

Hi folks,

 

1) what actions can i take to express my extreme displeasure with this? and ensure this is corrected ASAP? is this breach of contract on my employers part?

 

2) can i bill my employer for the interest i will now be charged as a result of not being able to discharge this debt on account of not being paid my correct wages?

 

 

1. It is not just a breach of contract, but a breach of the Employment Rights Act 1996. A failure to pay all or part of an employee's wage due under contract is classed as an unlawful deduction.

 

2. Tricky, but worth trying. Ultimately you could make a County Court claim for costs incurred as a result of the breach of contract, although you would have to demonstrate that the costs were solely the result of the breach. This is straightforward enough with rent or council tax payments or other recurring outgoings, but if you could prove that you had entered the credit agreement only on the basis that you increased wage would enable you to pay off the debt without interest becoming payable, then you might have a case. The issues arising would be exactly when you entered the credit agreement and when you were informed of the increase in wage - if you bought the goods before knowing that you would be earning more then one presumes that you were prepared to pay interest at the outset.

 

You need to raise this as a formal written grievance stating that on [Date] and [Date] the company has failed to pay your correct wage, and despite your having brought this to their attention on [Date] this has still not been rectified. You are advised that this situation is contrary to Section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Whilst you have been reluctant to raise the matter in a formal manner, you have been forced to do so as their failure to pay your new salary, together with overtime due has caused you financial embarrassment namely that as you were unable to meet the terms of a credit agreement you have now incurred significant interest charges (broken down below). In view of the fact that the shortfall in your wages was the sole reason for this, you are looking to the employer to make good the out of pocket expenses now incurred.

 

See where that gets you.

[Gaz74205]

thanks sidewinder!

 

i had thought of taking the attitude they were in breach of that act, but i think it may be a losing arguement. reasons below.

 

Subsections 3 & 4 of section 13 here.

 

(3) Where the total amount of wages paid on any occasion by an employer to a worker employed by him is less than the total amount of the wages properly payable by him to the worker on that occasion (after deductions), the amount of the deficiency shall be treated for the purposes of this Part as a deduction made by the employer from the worker’s wages on that occasion.

 

(4) Subsection (3) does not apply in so far as the deficiency is attributable to an error of any description on the part of the employer affecting the computation by him of the gross amount of the wages properly payable by him to the worker on that occasion.

 

seems they could argue its an error. any ideas how to get around that?

[Sidewinder]

I was again assured that the change would be made on my december wage.

[/Quote]

 

So the first occasion could have been an error in computation. After bringing it to their attention you would have imagined that the error would be corrected.

 

now i have received my january payslip, no increase, and also no overtime payment. the paperwork was submitted correctly and on time, yet the money is not on my wages.

[/Quote]

 

No increase and no overtime. Hardly an error in computation but more a complete omission to pay the money due. A 'deduction' can indeed be attributed to an error in computation, but for how long? They could underpay you for five years and it could still be due to an 'error' - the fact is that you are now two months down the line and need the money. You are not (at this stage at least) taking legal action, merely asserting your rights in order to get the 'error' corrected as soon as possible. They would be extremely remiss if they were to use the 'error in computation' clause then still do nothing about it.