No pay over Christmas - is this legal?

smileygill

Hi - I work for a "staff bank", paid weekly on the hours on my timesheet handed in a week before. Last week it was announced (on the staff intranet, then by an email circular) that bank staff would receive their last pay of the year on December 18th (a day early) but that pay for timesheets handed in after 11th December would not be paid out until January 2nd (2 weeks and 1 day later).

I'll be working all but the 3 bank holidays as I don't get paid for them (as such - I get holiday pay [24 days pro-rata - the minimum allowed by law] on a time-accrued basis, so I'll just cash in all I have left in the system), but will get no paycheque Christmas week. Worst of all, my mortgage goes out at the end of the month so I'll have to save all my last week's pay for that. What a miserable Christmas and New Year it'll be!

Even benefit claimants get paid in advance for the holiday period. It's fine for them to say 'you'll get it in the end' or maybe 'all the payroll staff are on leave' but it does seem very harsh. By all accounts, getting an advance from them is near-impossible, particularly as I'm regarded as a casual worker and I'd have to request it before I'd worked the time.

Can they really do this?

(I can't find a "sad" smiley).

Savvy_Sue

OK, you're on a staff bank, do you have a contract or any letter about when you'll be paid (ie how much in arrears)? If so, what does that say?

Do you regularly work a minimum number of hours? If you do, I'd argue that they should pay you those minimum hours in advance and adjust it afterwards.

If you're in a union, talk to them. Also ACAS may be helpful.

smileygill

Good points. There aren't any minimum or expected hours; "casual employment as and when" and "no guarantee of work".

Terms and conditions are pretty sketchy (one hastily-typed A4 page from which the above quotes are taken), but it does say "All bank staff will have to submit timesheets which must be signed by the shift leader/manager and submitted to the bank office by midday Thursday in order to be paid the following Friday."

Thanks a lot, Sue. I feel I have a little negotiating power now.

JoolzS

It looks reasonably fair to me (if I've read it correctly). From the information you've provided it appears as though payments are usually made on Fridays. The payment on the 18th is paid a day early on the Thursday (no obvious reason why), but the next payment would fall on a bank holiday (Boxing Day) so they are paying it on the next available Friday - 2nd January.

I know this might not seem helpful right now, but when I was working I always really appreciated getting my monthly December pay early in the month, but then hated it a couple of weeks later when January turned into a five, or even six, week month because of that single early payment.

Julie

Madjock

I'm sure they have to pay you within a certain timeframe from when the work was carried out. It may be 10 days, but you'd have to look into that.