Overpaid then NOT paid...help! (work issues)

[Pantgirl]

Heya, first post as I am aeful at these kinda things.

 

Background - i'm a Vet working at a surgery that was taken over in June this year. Since being taken over lots of things have changed and our full pay have never ever been in on time (5th of the month). We have only had 2 payslips out of 4 received.

 

I also do out of hours work and get paid cash minus vat/materials etc for what work I did.

 

August did a LOT of out of hours and raked in like £1.5k - yay thinks me. Last month (september 5th) get paid my normal salary PLUS like £1200 extra. I think this is for the out of hours and dont mention it to my boss as I thought he worked it out and put it in.

 

He then tells another member of staff that I was overpaid by £1k but doenst tell me.

 

Out pay goes in on the 5th October, none of us get our full pay. 10 days later I only have £500 paid in instead of the £1253 I usually get so I phone my boss. He says he overpaid me by £1200 last month so that is my pay for THIS month (October), I say that I wish he told me this EARLIER before I used it to pay off some bills etc, all he says is "sorry" and that the £500 (im guessing from out of hours work) is all I am getting this month, which is insane. I cant afford food/petrol etc, all my bills have come out and im having to put things on my Visa card which is just NOT ON.

 

Sorry that this is rambling, its hard to make sense of myself. He is coming up to the practice on Thursday and I want to speak to him then about it but I am RUBBISH about this. I looked online and found this which was helpful but a bit fuzzy about non payment/over payment. It says that if he overpaid me he can just deduct it off without telling me? But I had to ACTUALLY phone him up and ASK what on earth was going one as I have no money, surely it was his job to inform me before anything like this happened IE immediately after he overpaid me?

 

Please help me, is he allowed to just NOT pay me this month as he screwed up last month? HE doiesnt even know how or why he paid me that extra money last month, he really is useless and disorganised Help!

[Jimbo44]

Hi and welcome!

 

Two things initially strike me about what you've said. Firstly, the take-over of your your original employer should be covered by the TUPE regulations which in effect mean that the new owner of the business must honour your existing terms and conditions of employment.

 

To read more about TUPE I sugest you have a look at

 

Transfers of Undertakings (TUPE) - BERR

 

As far as the deduction form you pay is concerned and employer is expected to act reasonably, especially in cases where an overpayment of wages is made and needs to be reclaimed. Whatever the circumstances of the overpayment, the employer should never make a deduction to recover it without first consulting the employee and agreeing staged deductions over a period of time to recover it. Interestingly, if the employee genuinely believes the money is due to them and spend it, the employer may not be able to recoup it (I understand there is case law to support this).

 

Your "missing payslips" can be demanded from your employer as a failure to provide a payslip is a contravention of Section 8 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. See this link:

 

Non-payment, deductions and payslips : Directgov - Employment

 

You might find this link of interest too:

 

Employment : Directgov

 

I hope all this helps you. All the Links above have more links to explain things in greater detail for you.

[bazak1]

Hi,

 

the following is from the direct.gov website

 

If you were overpaid on a previous occasion Your employer will often be allowed to recover the overpayment. You should speak to a lawyer, an Acas advisor (Labour Relations Agency in Northern Ireland) or a Citizens Advice Bureau advisor for more information about how and when you might be able to prevent your employer from taking back an overpayment.

 

Also from ACAS..

 

Can my employer make unauthorised deductions from my wages?

 

No. The law protects you from having unauthorised deductions made from your wages, including complete non-payment. This protection applies both to employees and to some self-employed workers.

There are extra protections for individuals in retail work that make it illegal for an employer to deduct more than 10 per cent from the gross amount of any payment of wages (except the final payment on termination of employment) if the deduction is made because of cash shortages or stock deficiencies.

Workers who believe they have suffered an unlawful deduction from wages can make a complaint to an employment tribunal.