John Lewis underpaid staff

rajurahman85

Some of you may have already read about this:

"John Lewis Partnership staff were yesterday congratulating a sharp-eyed call-centre worker who spotted that the firm had been accidentally underpaying them for seven years. In pay packets arriving yesterday and today, they received additional windfalls of up to £4,000.

In total, the partnership, which includes the Waitrose supermarket chain, will be forking out £40m for the blunder, with a further £7m going on future pension liabilities.

The employee had recently joined from another firm and noticed that he was not receiving the same benefits for working Sundays and bank holidays as he had in his previous job. He approached the human resources department about the issue last month.

Under the UK's Working Time Regulations legislation, holiday pay for employees should reflect hours that were worked at premium rates, such as weekend shifts, over the previous months.

A spokesman said the average payout will be £350, with the largest running to thousands depending on the workers' shift patterns and pay grades.

He added that John Lewis had already been reviewing its pay policy under what are widely seen as increasingly complicated rules.

Employment lawyers said that John Lewis Partnerships was unlikely to have been the only employer making such underpayments to workers, as many companies have struggled to interpret what are complicated regulations."

Current Partners in employment have been provided with compensation as they have been underpaid by JLP since 2006, that's 7 years of underpayment.

I worked for Waitrose from 2003 to 2012, I left in June last year due to a career opportunity. John Lewis has been clear about who they will pay, it appears that ex partners aren't in that list. Since employees have been underpaid since 2006, that would mean I've been underpaid for 6 years. Does anyone have any advice for me, as I believe I should also be entitled to the money I worked so hard for.

There are many other people in the same situation as me, so any response would be highly appreciated.

claret_mike

If you had been overpaid in that 6 years, could your ex employer chase you for the money? I would say so and on that basis, I would be writing to the company and requesting the overpayment back to you. If they fail to agree, do what they would do to you and put it in to the hands of the law... or small claims court.

Denning.

claret_mike wrote: »

If you had been overpaid in that 6 years, could your ex employer chase you for the money? I would say so and on that basis, I would be writing to the company and requesting the overpayment back to you. If they fail to agree, do what they would do to you and put it in to the hands of the law... or small claims court.

They aren't comparable, overapyment of contracted salary is not as straight forward as underpayment of contracted salary. Neither are both parties equal, the Company is a stronger party and the assumption is pretty much they take the brunt of any mistakes unless the weaker party (employee) has acted in bad faith.

ohreally

Write to HR, recorded del, stating you are aware of the development and believe you are entitled to XXX arrears of pay, stating why you believe this to be the case. Ask they review your claim and inform you of the outcome.

marybelle01

First, work out if you actually have been underpaid! The Working Time Regulations do not give anyone a right to enhancements for working weekends or bank holidays. Whether you were entitled to such enhancements is a contractual issue. If your contract entitled you to enhanced pay for weekends and bank holidays then you MAY have been underpaid, and that would be the breach of the WTR. Paying normal rate is perfectly legal though, unless you have a contractual right to enhanced pay. So what was your contract?

rajurahman85

Thank you all for your responses.

I was receiving enhanced pay for Sundays and Bank Holidays as that's what was on my contract. It appears that Waitrose did not give me this enhanced pay for any leave that I took during my whole employment (between 2003 and 2012). So, on that basis, it does appear that I am owed amounts underpaid to me.

I have written them an email, and will get back to you lot with their response.

Kayalana99

Sorry to hjack thread. Say a night worker goes on hoilday and they don't get paid their enhanced rate...i.e its normal rate £6 night rate £8 but they only get paid £6 for hoildays ....

This is illegal?

Denning.

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Sorry to hjack thread. Say a night worker goes on hoilday and they don't get paid their enhanced rate...i.e its normal rate £6 night rate £8 but they only get paid £6 for hoildays ....

This is illegal?

Yes. Think of it as earning 12% on every hour you work. So if the hour you work was at £8 you get 12% of that as holiday.

drzvc

I worked for both John Lewis & Waitrose a few years back, and after asking about my underpayment, got an email today saying

"There are no plans to reimburse Partners who have chosen to leave the business. This is a decision made by the Management board. We cannot comment further on this as this is the decision that has been made."

I fail to see how this is legal.

Lc1985_2

I also am in the same boat. Contracted Sundays and Mondays and looking back on pay slips for when I was on holiday I wasn't paid correctly. I received an email response today the same as the person above me did.
I don't really see how it is our fault waitrose/John Lewis haven't paid correctly and think people should be properly paid for the work that we've done.
Any other people have any other advice? Has anyone taken it to the 'management' that have made this decision?

Kayalana99

I think you'd have a really good legal case here.