Deducting money from my salary.

saint1d

Hi.

A couple of weeks ago I accidentally filled my work van up with unleaded petrol instead of diesel, a very silly mistake to make, but it also appears to be a relatively common issue. At the time I was devastated. I was quite impressed that my employer didnt give me too much grief, the van was fixed the same day, and the following day I started a 2 week holiday.

I returned to work today and my employer has told me he is deducting £220 from my salary to cover the cost of repairs, I can ask them to take a little at a time, or they will take the whole lot next month.

I am fairly certain that my contract does not say that he can do this. We had a meeting a few months ago in which he said that any future damage caused through negligence may be deducted from salaries (due to a few incidents with other staff) and I signed a piece of paper to say I attended the training session, but in my opinion I was not signing to say that I agreed with what he was saying.

So....am I right in saying that unless it is written into a contract which I have signed and have a copy of he cannot deduct money from me like this?

Of course I realise this was my fault, but I dont not feel that I was behaving in a reckless and negligent manner, it was just a simple silly mistake that I'm sure I wont repeat. On the plus side, he said he wouldnt take disciplinary action against me lol.

Thanks for any advice

eyeinthesky

I may be wide of the mark here, and if so, I'm sure someone more knowledgable will be along to correct me, but you were told this would happen a few months ago, and I'm guessing that it now forms a part of your terms and conditions of employment.
Employers can change these any time they like, and if it doesn't suit you, you can always look for another job. As for the mistake itself, well, it's gotta be negligent to put the wrong fuel in a vehicle, hasn't it?
Ask for instalments that suit your budget, and chalk it up to experience.

saint1d

Well the thing is, when we had the "training session" as he calls it, we signed to say we had attended the session before he told us anything. The session covered various topics, not just the taking money out of wages, so I honestly dont see how I signed a document to say I agreed with what he said. In fact he said he "might" decuct money from salary.

Previous problems he has had included someone damaging a customers house due to not doing the job correctly, and another employee crashing the van due to speeding.

I suppose I'm just annoyed that I have made a silly mistake, a force of habit picking up the green petrol nozzle, even though I have worked there for 2 years and fill the van with diesel each week.

I guess I will probably just pay the money, and end up leaving (not just because of this but various other issues).

mark55man

if you are going to leave anyway - don't pay the money!!

company fleet costs way more than £220 I don't believe they will sue

hundredk

Sorry, companies can, and do get staff to acknowledge they have had training and are therefore competent in the areas covered. Not relevant here but in some cases they seek recovery of the training costs too, eg if they pay for HGV and you leave within a specified period. If part of that acknowledgement is authorisation to recover for negligence (which this is), then you are obliged to pay.

You attended the training and signed, that's the key. I suspect the wording was something like "may seek to recover costs..."

Mark88 - if he leaves, they'll no doubt take it from his pay in lieu of notice.

pelirocco

And why shouldnt they reclaim these costs? your mistake has cost the company money

Oldernotwiser

I don't see that there's any need for you to "agree" with this. You were told that it was a possibility and you signed to confirm that you'd been given the information. "Agreement" doesn't come into it.

maninthestreet

Wouldn't it be better to fit the vans with a device to prevent misfueling? Prevention is better (and cheaper) than the cure.

Caroline73_2

maninthestreet wrote: »

Wouldn't it be better to fit the vans with a device to prevent misfueling? Prevention is better (and cheaper) than the cure.

Wouldn't it be better to employ people who don't make this kind of mistake?

Lollypop75

Caroline73 wrote: »

Wouldn't it be better to employ people who don't make this kind of mistake?

Is this really necessary? Everybody makes mistakes.

To the OP, I think the other posters are correct. You signed to say you attended the session, and so you knew this information. So it basically forms part of your contract.

Caroline73_2

Lollypop75 wrote: »

Is this really necessary? Everybody makes mistakes.

To the OP, I think the other posters are correct. You signed to say you attended the session, and so you knew this information. So it basically forms part of your contract.

You pull up to a petrol pump, there are 3 hoses. It's not rocket science to get the correct one. The OP said it was 'reckless or neligent' but it was negligent.

It's not just what happened but the basic principle of doing the job properly. This was a totally avoidable mistake.

What if a pharmacist just picked up the wrong medicine and gave it a patient - would it be a silly mistake then or negligent?