Ex Employer owes me wages and is messing me about, advice please.

Mehman_2

Hi,

exactly as stated in the title.. I was sacked at the end of January, owed that months wages. I get paid monthly and was assured it would be in at the end of that week(also end of the month).

On every occassion i contact my ex-employer i am told "end of the week" but that's not good enough anymore, as im assuming they're just messing me about now. I have started to draft a formal grievance letter, and will be posting it registered at my next earliest oppertunity..

Its actually almost done, i have directed it at the CEO, explained what i feel i am owed, i have then gone on to explain i have made efforts to resolve this through the proper means (phoning HR, etc) but no-one has made any effort on their end to correct the issues or contact me back.

Now its coming to the end of the letter, on most advice sites i have read, a grievance letter is requesting a hearing with an employer? I have no interest in this, they know they owe me, etc. I just want my money.


How can i round off this letter requesting my money and explaining they have to give it to me within 28 days of receiving the letter, at which point if they do not i have the right to seek assistance through external means. I have no interest in a "hearing" with my old boss, i dont work there anymore, and he and i both know that he owes me the money. The only reason i am writing this grievance letter is so in the event he keeps messing me around (which im assuming will be the case) i have followed correct procedure and can step it up to legal means.

Thanks.

greendollar

Get a claim form from the Employment Tribunal Service , they can be downloaded from their site . I take it you do not wish to claim for unfair dismissal but there is a section for claiming wages / unpaid holiday , it costs nothing and is very easy to do .....tell your employer that unless your paid what your owed within 7 days you will go to the ETS and claim.

Mehman_2

Thanks for the quick reply greendollar..
No, i dont wish to claim for unfair dismissal, just want my due wages.

May i ask why you suggest i do this immediately, as opposed to continuing down the grievance letter route? I've been told by a guy i spoke to at ACAS that the grievance letter is a good idea because if it eventually goes to court, its one of the things i should have done first?

greendollar

Why bother with a grievence letter , you just want what your owed don't you . Can't see the point in poncing around with letters and meetings , your owed , simple as. Your employer might drag it out but he is anyway .

My bet is , as happened in my case , that as soon as the ETS contact him your employer will cough up as they won't the hassle ... he knows he owes so there would be no point wasting the ETS time .

Mudd14

I would just write to them requesting the owed money and holiday pay within 7 days otherwise you will file a claim to the ET for unlawful deduction of wages.

You don't need to go the grievance route as you have nothing to discuss. The ET won't have a problem if you don't wait for the grievance procedure on unpaid wages but it saves them time if you try and ask for your money back first!

Mehman_2

Damn this forums great, ok guys thanks for clearing that up.

You appear to understand the situation exactly.. One more question..

Does anyone have an example or a hint as to what -exactly- i should put in this letter, to explain that i am going to hand it over to ETS within 7 days if i dont receive my wages. I dont want the letter to sound threatening, but at the same time i do want to convey that i am going to do this, and want it to sound official.

greendollar

Sorry can't help you there , as I be inclined to got down the threatening route but hope you get a speedy resolution to your problem . It's very frustating when you have to fight for whats yours anyway , i was dumbfounded that my employer , considering they were a multi- national company employing thousands, thought they could do me out of a few hundred quid after they sacked me.

Mehman_2

Actually, its somewhat the same situation... when i was fired the employer was talking about not wanting to create any bad feeling and how if he got any contract work i'd be the first person he'd call, not wanting to "burn bridges" and all that tosh. So to my face.. i left there on good terms, or so he let me believe.
I can only imagine what hes saying about me if he hasnt even got the decency to pay me for work ive already done. - Honestly though, i couldn't care less, i just want my money.


Here's the letter im sending:

---

To .....,
CEO of .....,

I am writing to request my unpaid wages and any other payments due to me, which are now over two weeks late. I had been advised, in email communications over two weeks ago, I would be paid on the usual date and have subsequently not been.

This letter is to inform you that if I do not receive my due wages within 7 days of the date of this letter, I will hand the issue over to the Employment Tribunal Service, who will contact you on my behalf regarding unlawful deduction of wages.

Yours Sincerely,

sign
...

---

Now i just need to know, if anyone here has done a similar letter? is this acceptable?

shikoku

Dear Sirs

On (date) I made a formal request to you for my final salary payment.

I feel I must remind you that you have a legal obligation to pay me all monies due.

If I have not received full payment within seven (7) days of the date of this letter, I will have no choice but to file for an employment tribunal to recover the sum owed.

I await your response.

Sincerely


The fewer words the better for this sort of thing imho.

Mehman_2

" On (date) I made a formal request to you for my final salary payment "

As this is the first writiten correspondance regarding the wages ill reword that to


" I now make a formal request to you for my final salary payment "

thanks for the advice

Mudd14

If you wanted to through something legal in their you could refer to section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 where the worker shall not suffer unlawful deduction if wages. And by holding your salary they are in breach of your statutory rights.