Sacked! Not getting my final pay

skare44

Hi there, i was sacked last week from one of the national chain of pawn shops for basically 'being morally correct' - The way a pawn shop works, is that someone brings in lets say a laptop, they get paid £100 for it, to get it back they have to pay the shop £120, or they can 'roll it over' at the end of each month for around 10% of the original payout for the shop to not sell it...

Anyway, a lady came into the shop, i was on the desk alone, she explained to me that she had rolled over 18 times @ £12.50 a month on a laptop that contained all her childrens photo's growing up etc.. but had missed the rollover date by 2 days this time around but had the full amount of money to get the laptop back, my manager was on lunch break so i had no one to consult, i tried to call him but there was no answer. I did ask a co-worker who told me not to give it back to her... Anyway, long story short, i went upstairs got her laptop and gave it back to her for the £140..

Manager comes back, explained the situation, he agreed with me, but his manager sadly did not, i received a written warning on the day and was told i had a disciplinary hearing the following week with the boss of the shop.. I was sacked on the spot for gross misconduct.. I knew what i did was wrong, but in my eyes it was the correct thing to do. I called to ask if he would give me a reference today, he refused and also told me that i won't be getting paid the 3 weeks pay owed to me...

I'm fuming, but what can i do?

The days we worked are only recorded as tick boxes on a calender, no clock in/out system..

Any advice would be great ..

Thanks .. James

spacey2012

How long have you worked there ?

Torry_Quine

Even if sacked you are entitled to be paid for the work that you've done and any outstanding holidays. Any prospective employer will most likely contact them for a reference so make sure you are upfront about how you lost the job.

When you sign on for JSA you also need to tell them as they will check before deciding on a sanction.

That said I feel you've been treated rather harshly and did the right thing by the woman.

ossie

skare44 wrote: »

The way a pawn shop works, is that someone brings in lets say a laptop, they get paid £100 for it, to get it back they have to pay the shop £120...........Anyway, long story short, i went upstairs got her laptop and gave it back to her for the £140..
Thanks .. James

Am I missing something here? She was willing to pay £140 for something she only owed £120 on and you got sacked for that? Is that what they sacked you for?

slenderkitten

i am sure you would be entitled to your three weeks money but i would speak to Acas 08457 47 47 47 and your local Citizen Advice Bureau

bluenoseam

Sounds dodgy, sounds like you've been disciplined twice for the same offence which doesn't sound right & even then they cannot NOT pay you for work already done.

prowla

I guess those shops are dodgey anyway.
But isn't there supposed to be a disciplinary process to follow?

BillyB

ossie wrote: »

Am I missing something here? She was willing to pay £140 for something she only owed £120 on and you got sacked for that? Is that what they sacked you for?

She also owed extra money to the shop for the roll over payments at £12.50 each time and the lady did that 18 times, so I gather the OP gave her the laptop back for £140 when she owed a lot more.
Although, I think you did the right thing.

Takeaway_Addict

BillyB wrote: »

She also owed extra money to the shop for the roll over payments at £12.50 each time and the lady did that 18 times, so I gather the OP gave her the laptop back for £140 when she owed a lot more.
Although, I think you did the right thing.

No, I think she was paying the £12.50 each month to keep it in pawn, for some reason she was two days late so effectively the product becomes the property of the pawn shop and they would have been able to sell it for more than the £140.

Morally the OP has done a good thing for the woman but that wasn't what they are paid to do and thus its caused them this issue

BillyB

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

No, I think she was paying the £12.50 each month to keep it in pawn, for some reason she was two days late so effectively the product becomes the property of the pawn shop and they would have been able to sell it for more than the £140.

Morally the OP has done a good thing for the woman but that wasn't what they are paid to do and thus its caused them this issue

Ah I understand, didnt read it properly. Thanks!

paddedjohn

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

No, I think she was paying the £12.50 each month to keep it in pawn, for some reason she was two days late so effectively the product becomes the property of the pawn shop and they would have been able to sell it for more than the £140.

Morally the OP has done a good thing for the woman but that wasn't what they are paid to do and thus its caused them this issue

Assuming the laptop wasnt new when she pawned it added to the fact that it had beed in hoc for 18 months I couldnt see them getting much for it.(And they got £365 back on a £100 loan.)