Can employer keep wages if don't work notice?

Ragtimeplayer

My husband has been working for an employer as a ceramic Tiler for roughly 7 weeks but has had bad experiences with him and left the job last friday.


His employer is considered a touch shady and rumour has it that he has withheld wages in the past.

My husband did not give a weeks notice as he couldn't bear to work any longer for him.

He was never given a contract to sign and has not even received any wage slips in the whole time he was employed by him.

He originally started as a sub contractor but was then offered the job on a Paye basis after the first two weeks.

My husband has just received a text from the employer saying he should really have worked a week in hand and hubby sees this as a prelude to him withholding wages come Friday.

He is paid by Bacs which goes out tomorrow in time for it to show on Friday.

Hubby will not go back to work for him under any circumstances.

Is there anything we can do to ensure he gets paid as I dread to think what will happen if he does withhold the wages owed.
Hubby is fuming already and I believe he will go down and see him about it and this may turn out badly for the employer.

Andy_L

Is he paid weekly? How far in arrears

If your husband isn't at work this week (ie 14-18th) he's obviously not going to get paid for those days, it just depends how much in arrears he's paid. If last Friday he was paid for 7-11th then he's due no money, if it was for working 30-4th then he has to be paid for his work on 7-11th.

Ragtimeplayer

He worked a week in hand and is paid weekly straight into his bank account so he is owed 1 weeks pay.

He is also probably owed holiday pay, though I doubt it will be very much as he was only there for 7 weeks.

LittleVoice

Your husband appears to be in breach of contract because he should have given one week's notice.

It may be that the employer is thinking of claiming the week's wages as being compensation for the breach. However, I think he should pay and then could make a claim for breach if he wanted and could prove loss.

LittleVoice

The contract does not have to be written for it to exist. Though it may not be up to date, they have paid him something and he has done work for them - contract established. (BTW they are probably not quite at the point of breaking the law in not having provided the written statement as OP's husband has worked for 7 weeks only.)

Even if the employee has received payslips showing deduction of tax and NI it doesn't mean that money has been paid over to HMRC. So good idea to check.