Minimum wage+docked pay

Steve_C123

What are the rules about the minimum wage and docking pay?
this is about someone who is on the National minimum wage, paid hourly and was 1 minute late clocking in on three occasions in the last month resulting in that persons pay/hours being docked by 45 minutes.
is this allowed?

Googlewhacker

not sure but if they are paid to the 15 minutes then if they are 1 minute late they may as well go make a brew and be 14 minutes late mighten they.

paulwf

Just to be 100% clear I take it the company policy is that if you are late you automatically get docked 15 minutes? Does it say this in your contract?

Steve_C123

there is no contract, nothing has been signed and there is nothing with anything written down.

Googlewhacker

Steve_C123 wrote: »

there is no contract, nothing has been signed and there is nothing with anything written down.

Just by turning up and working this is the contract, if there are no written rules then the employee must go by statutory rights as a minimum.

Hammyman

Steve_C123 wrote: »

What are the rules about the minimum wage and docking pay?
this is about someone who is on the National minimum wage, paid hourly and was 1 minute late clocking in on three occasions in the last month resulting in that persons pay/hours being docked by 45 minutes.
is this allowed?

Yes. Usually companies work out pay in blocks of 15 minutes. Being a minute late means losing 15 minutes pay. If they were late by 1 minute then by the time they'd taken off their coat etc and got to their desk, they'd have used up most of those 15 minutes.

Savvy_Sue

However, I didn't think you could dock wages unless you had an agreement with the employee to do this, in writing.

So if the employee is saying they don't have such a written agreement, I'd say it was unlawful.

Hammyman

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

However, I didn't think you could dock wages unless you had an agreement with the employee to do this, in writing.

So if the employee is saying they don't have such a written agreement, I'd say it was unlawful.

They aren't being docked. They are paid per hour and are being paid for the time they've done in blocks of 15 minutes. They weren't clocked in for a 15min period or part thereof so weren't paid for it.

liney

I think your friend should be more concerned about impending warnings for being late 3 times in only 1 month.

Paying in 15 min blocks is the norm. Companies are not expected to pay for 7 hours and 59 mins, likewise you will find that if overtime is paid "off the clock", then that will be paid in blocks of 15 mins too.

Mr_Oink

You could always be 1 minute early four times in a week and ask for an hours overtime :-)

bendix

Hammyman wrote: »

They aren't being docked. They are paid per hour and are being paid for the time they've done in blocks of 15 minutes. They weren't clocked in for a 15min period or part thereof so weren't paid for it.

Spot on.

Nobody was docked any wages. They were simply not paid for the time they weren't working.

Perfectly legal.