Till balance out - asked to pay in money

ManicMum

Hello

At my work, the till has been out on 2 days. I was asked (along with couple of others) to put money in to balance it. I refused and said that is wasn't right to expect us to do that. No great sum but it's the principle. I also think if you employ humans, we are not robots and therefore we do make mistakes. Also, if you run a business you have to expect a certain amount of loss.

I signed something ages ago when i started to say i would do this if it happened. At the time, i told the supervisor i was not happy to sign but was basically told to sign it or i wouldn't be working here much longer. so i signed but i feel under duress. A colleague told me I therefore now have no comeback because this now forms part of my contract.

I don't normally work late so hasn't been a problem so far but with christmas i have been doing some late shifts and now getting dragged into this balancing the tills business. I feel like I am totally betraying myself by doing this as it goes against everything I am - a very principled person. I almost feel like leaving but live in area of high unemployment.

What are my rights here?

many thanks

wuckfit

As far as I know, the maximum you may have deducted from your wages is 10% However, if the deductions would take you below national minimum wage then the deductions would be unlawful.

Gordon_Hose

You shouldn't have signed to say you would do it, even if you did feel under duress.

Caroline73_2

Wouldn't they have to prove who was on the till when it stopped balancing?

ManicMum

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

You shouldn't have signed to say you would do it, even if you did feel under duress.

Yes, I know I was a fool and with hindsight.....

ManicMum

wuckfit wrote: »

As far as I know, the maximum you may have deducted from your wages is 10% However, if the deductions would take you below national minimum wage then the deductions would be unlawful.

Any deduction would take me below minimum wage because I am only paid minimum wage. That's interesting. So I could use that to retract piece of paper I signed because they are acting unlawfully to start with?

Lirin

Happened in a shop I worked in. I acted at the time as a go-between between management and staff, and it happened with a girl not long started. Easy to accidently give back £20 instead of £10, or miscount. Mistakes are easily made. Our argument to management was they couldn't ask the girl to repay, as a number of staff use every till every day, therefore the mistake couldn't be pinpointed to one person.
Unsure what the legalities are on asking to repay.

chuckley

if its only you on the till/counter - yes... but up to a certain amount.
if others use it - no.

Googlewhacker

ManicMum wrote: »

Hello

At my work, the till has been out on 2 days. I was asked (along with couple of others) to put money in to balance it. I refused and said that is wasn't right to expect us to do that. No great sum but it's the principle. I also think if you employ humans, we are not robots and therefore we do make mistakes. Also, if you run a business you have to expect a certain amount of loss.

I signed something ages ago when i started to say i would do this if it happened. At the time, i told the supervisor i was not happy to sign but was basically told to sign it or i wouldn't be working here much longer. so i signed but i feel under duress. A colleague told me I therefore now have no comeback because this now forms part of my contract.

I don't normally work late so hasn't been a problem so far but with christmas i have been doing some late shifts and now getting dragged into this balancing the tills business. I feel like I am totally betraying myself by doing this as it goes against everything I am - a very principled person. I almost feel like leaving but live in area of high unemployment.

What are my rights here?

many thanks

Whilst I agree that you shouldn't have to pay because mistakes do happen in business you are not that principled because if you were you would pay for your mistakes that have caused the company a loss.

DVardysShadow

Googlewhacker wrote: »

Whilst I agree that you shouldn't have to pay because mistakes do happen in business you are not that principled because if you were you would pay for your mistakes that have caused the company a loss.

Have another look at the OP. It appears that several people may use this till and it is entirely possible that the OP is being asked to pay for other people's mistakes. So you are quite probably very wrong to call the OP's principles into question.

Googlewhacker

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Have another look at the OP. It appears that several people may use this till and it is entirely possible that the OP is being asked to pay for other people's mistakes. So you are quite probably very wrong to call the OP's principles into question.

I saw that but the OP did also say

No great sum but it's the principle. I also think if you employ humans, we are not robots and therefore we do make mistakes. Also, if you run a business you have to expect a certain amount of loss.

Which to me indicates the OP would not be willing to pay for any mistakes that are made even if the till was just theirs.

I actually don't agree with making people pay for mistakes made on till transactions especially as it is most likely pence but the principle would be to pay for your mistakes if it costs the company money.