Employer withholding final pay

Acmi

I have recently been dismissed by my employer whilst I was off sick. In a letter he sent to me on the 4th November setting out the reasons for my dismissal it was clear that I have been 'stiched-up' by one of my colleagues who I thought was a friend and, it now seems wanted my job.

I was promised my final pay and p45 in the same letter but as yet I have not received either. I am weekly paid and the company runs the payroll every week. I worked a week in hand and the last time I was paid was 29th October for work week ending 22nd October 2010. I went on sick 1st November and my colleague said she would include me in the next payroll run for the work I had done for the week ending 29th October. I then received a text message from her telling me that my employer had stopped her from paying me.

How long should I give me employer to pay me as promised before I take it further.

Thanks

Gertie_Walker

Don't give them any longer. Write a formal letter setting out what you think yu are due and asking for payment and P45 within 7 days. If this does not produce the money, start an ET action by issuing an ET1. (Forms online.) This usually works.

MrRedundant

You went on sick from 1st until when? They cannot take you off the payroll until you have been paid for everything. If you went off sick you will be entitled to SSP most likely; there may also be some holiday etc left to pay. Furthermore you may have some notice outstanding or have appealed thus the wait.

What was the offical date of leaving. When would you have normally been paid to the end of that period?

How where you "stitched up"

Acmi

I was signed off for 2 weeks by the doctor on 3rd November who backdated the note to the 1st. Before I got the chance to post it off to my employer I received his dismissal letter so there was no point in sending it in.

In his letter he gave me 4 days in which to lodge an appeal against the decision. I didn't appeal because I wanted to leave the company anyway due to the pressure of my job.

The company is in severe financial difficulties and have somehow got away with not paying employees Tax and NIC to HMRC for nearly a year (including mine). They have also failed to submit year-end returns. They are now on the HMRC radar and have been receiving penalty notices which my employer dumped on my desk for me to deal with and just walked away.

In the meantime my employers (husband & wife) are taking a monthly salary between them of £12,500 out of the company with no regard to the effect on their employees pensions etc for non payment of their NIC and the severity of it all.

I told my colleague this and it seems she has passed this sharing of confidential information back to my employer whilst I was off sick which is one of the reasons for sacking me. She also told them that I had shouted at her for turning on a light which is simply not true. I have now been accused of bullying by my employer which is another reason for my dismissal.

The official date of leaving I would assume to be 4th November (the date of his letter). Therefore I should have been on the payroll run last week.

Hope this clarifes

Thanks

jazzyman01

I agree that you should contact them immediately regarding outstanding payment. However, you may be entitled to more depending on when you joined the Company. You would be entitled to notice of 1 week per completed year of service.

Acmi

Thank you all for your replies:-

Between postings here I have e-mailed by employer giving them 7 days to release my final pay and P45. I have now had a response My money will be in my bank on Friday :beer: everyone!

Cheers!!

Uncertain

Acmi wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies:-

Between postings here I have e-mailed by employer giving them 7 days to release my final pay and P45. I have now had a response My money will be in my bank on Friday :beer: everyone!

Cheers!!

Hopefully that is good news but don't let them get away with anything.

Check and double check the figures, notice entitlement, holiday etc. Remember holiday continues to accrue during sick leave so, in round figures, this is a day's pay for every two weeks.

What, if any procedure did they follow in deciding to dismiss you on capability (i.e. health) grounds. By the sound of it none so, assuming you have been employed for more than a year, you may well have a valid unfair dismissal claim. Hopefully SarEl or LazyDaisy will see this and comment.

Finally, I'm sure your memory is playing tricks and you did post the sick note to them as soon as you got it!

Googlewhacker

Uncertain wrote: »

Finally, I'm sure your memory is playing tricks and you did post the sick note to them as soon as you got it!

Tut Tut Uncertain, facts not opinions

However as Uncertain pointed out it maybe worth persuing an unfair dismissal claim if you have been working there over 12 months.

Acmi

Thank you all for you replies. Unfortunately I have only been with the company since July this year. I was employed temporarily by them at first, then on 16th August I was given a permanent contract. Since my previous postings I have checked over my Contract of Employment and it states I would be given 1 months notice. I have taken this up with my Employer as he has only paid me for the last week I worked. He has indicated that I was on a 3 months probationary period which would normally have ended 16th November. Firstly, No where in my contract does it state that I was on a 3 months probationary and I was not made aware of this verbally. Secondly, can he refuse to pay me 1 month because this so called probationary period had not ended?

Where do I stand on this please?

Thanks

getmore4less

You may have inadvertantly agreed to a shorter notice period by not responding to the initial letter in a reasonable time.

Even though they gave 4 days it's now over 2 weeks so you could have said something.

And from what you have said they are using gross misconduct as the reason so that could be dismissal without notice anyway.

Collecting the information from your posts.

In a letter he sent to me on the 4th November setting out the reasons for my dismissal
............
In his letter he gave me 4 days in which to lodge an appeal against the decision. I didn't appeal because I wanted to leave the company anyway due to the pressure of my job.
...........
In the meantime my employers (husband & wife) are taking a monthly salary between them of £12,500 out of the company with no regard to the effect on their employees pensions etc for non payment of their NIC and the severity of it all.

I told my colleague this and it seems she has passed this sharing of confidential information back to my employer whilst I was off sick which is one of the reasons for sacking me

So you need to decide if you want to fight the reason for dismisal to get your notice

Since my previous postings I have checked over my Contract of Employment and it states I would be given 1 months notice. I have taken this up with my Employer as he has only paid me for the last week I worked. He has indicated that I was on a 3 months probationary period which would normally have ended 16th November. Firstly, No where in my contract does it state that I was on a 3 months probationary and I was not made aware of this verbally. Secondly, can he refuse to pay me 1 month because this so called probationary period had not ended?

Where do I stand on this please?

Probation is irrelevent unless covered by this contract or any particulars referenced like an employee handbook.

More important is what does the contract say about gross missconduct and disiplinary proceedures.