Employer 'forgot' to pay salary!

VB1981

Hi all,

I am about to return from maternity leave, and had added the accrued holiday to the end to extend my maternity leave. This comes at the end of a period of three months unpaid maternity leave.

My employer had 'forgotten' to pay my salary for the period of accrued holiday on pay day despite over a year notice of my intentions. When I brought this to my employer's attention, they paid the amount via BACs transfer but refused to re-run the payroll. As the payment is a straight ex-gratia style payment, my employer has withheld 30% of to cover tax and NI, as I am a basic rate tax payer, and has also not deducted my pension contribution.

When challenged to justify the 30%, the payroll department claim that they are unable to calculate the tax accurately and rely on HMRC guidance to withhold 30%, adding that any error will be corrected later by the HMRC. They have neither confirmed nor denied payment of pension contributions. My employer is also reluctant to communicate in writing and has ignored my request for an itemised breakdown of the 30% deduction.

To further complication matters, when I return I will be working part time (3/5s), therefore a straight percentage calculation for pension contributions next month will be 3/5s less than it ought to be.

I have advised them that they are in breach of contract for not paying the salary as per my contract. The failure to properly deduct my pension and pay employers contribution is a further breach of contract.

I had understood that NI contribution stood at around 8% for a basic rate tax payer, therefore they have also withheld 2% more of my salary for tax than they are entitled to. I believe this constitutes a illegal deduction from my salary.

I do have union representation at work, and will be raising this and other maternity issues with the union on my return, but am hoping for a quick and reasonably amicable solution.

Any advice please?

All best,
Victoria.

SKIPPY

Could they not have given you the advance and then put it through the payroll the following month and deducted the amount they paid as the advance. Surely all tax, ni and pension contribution would have been correct then.

VB1981

SKIPPY wrote: »

Could they not have given you the advance and then put it through the payroll the following month and deducted the amount they paid as the advance. Surely all tax, ni and pension contribution would have been correct then.

Hi Skippy,

Thank you for your response.

This is effectively what they have done, but they have pre-deducted 30% for tax and NI (quite a bit more than tax and NI should be) and cannot (or will not) confirm payment of pension contribution. Without an accurate pay slip I have no way of knowing either way.

The complication with an advance is that I will be part time from the next pay run, so there is extra care required to ensure the correct deduction happen. So far they've have gotten every aspect of my maternity wrong, so I do not feel confident this slightly unusual situation would be resolved properly.

To be honest, the whole thing is getting so complicated that I feel that I will need an accountant to unravel it, but I would object to having to pay to correct my employer's mistakes.

All best,
Victoria

scheming_gypsy

They can't re-run payroll just for you.
I'd have a guess that they've made an estimated payment that'll be corrected on the next payroll.. They've already stated that they've followed HMRC guidance to deduct 30% so they've done all they can until the next payroll where they can correct it.

Takeaway_Addict

It's a mistake, you sound like a right pain for the employer. Employers make mistakes as do employees, they have made a quick fix to give you some money (they could have just refused and left it to the following month and by the time you had made any action they could have paid it to nullify your action). Instead of being overly confrontational maybe approach this rationally and with as little aggro as possible.

VB1981

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

It's a mistake, you sound like a right pain for the employer. Employers make mistakes as do employees, they have made a quick fix to give you some money (they could have just refused and left it to the following month and by the time you had made any action they could have paid it to nullify your action). Instead of being overly confrontational maybe approach this rationally and with as little aggro as possible.

I accept the mistake argument, but surely when they do its incumbent on the employer to rectify that mistake with the minimum of disruption to the employee? That's exactly why such legislation exists, because some employers are equally a right pain to employees.

Refusal to pay a contractually agreed salary would have resulted in me not meeting my financial obligations, including mortgage payments, train tickets and childcare and would have made it financially impossible for me to return to work - you're comment is not helpful, practical or realistic in the slightest.

I'm not about to enter into a slanging match, I am looking for practical advice.

Regards.

marybelle01

Your employer made an understandable mistake - they forgot something a year later! The corrected it immediately it was brought to their attention. In what way have they breached your contract, and what resolution do you expect since you have actually been paid? Your NI, pension and any other deductions don't have to be paid on the spot and this minute - those can and will be corrected in future payments. Nobody refused to pay you, and you have the payment to meet all your obligations. And you obviously don't understand how NI or pensions are calculated or paid if you think that this hiccup will make the slightest difference to your entitlements.

Sorry but you are being utterly unreasonable here - and that is what your union will tell you, or should tell you. The practical advice is that your employer has acted properly and reasonably and you haven't got a leg to stand on, so stop making life difficult for yourself - because that is all you are doing.

Takeaway_Addict

VB1981 wrote: »

I accept the mistake argument, but surely when they do its incumbent on the employer to rectify that mistake with the minimum of disruption to the employee? That's exactly why such legislation exists, because some employers are equally a right pain to employees.

Refusal to pay a contractually agreed salary would have resulted in me not meeting my financial obligations, including mortgage payments, train tickets and childcare and would have made it financially impossible for me to return to work - you're comment is not helpful, practical or realistic in the slightest.

I'm not about to enter into a slanging match, I am looking for practical advice.

Regards.

All in all they have paid you your salary minus up to 2%, that is a very reasonable response from the employer which according to the other poster is the recommended response from HMRC.

They are rectifying the mistake with as little disruption as possible with again, which is a reasonable response. Your response to this is not reasonable.

Practical advise is to work with the employer rather than against them and accept that a mistake was made and they are rectifying it in a reasonable manner

VB1981

marybelle01 wrote: »

Your employer made an understandable mistake - they forgot something a year later! The corrected it immediately it was brought to their attention. In what way have they breached your contract, and what resolution do you expect since you have actually been paid? Your NI, pension and any other deductions don't have to be paid on the spot and this minute - those can and will be corrected in future payments. Nobody refused to pay you, and you have the payment to meet all your obligations. And you obviously don't understand how NI or pensions are calculated or paid if you think that this hiccup will make the slightest difference to your entitlements.

Sorry but you are being utterly unreasonable here - and that is what your union will tell you, or should tell you. The practical advice is that your employer has acted properly and reasonably and you haven't got a leg to stand on, so stop making life difficult for yourself - because that is all you are doing.

You feel that the employer not paying a pensions contribution and refusing to provide either a payslip or a breakdown of deductions to your wage slip reasonable? I wonder how you'd feel if it were your payslip?

The problem is not the mistake, or the partial resolutions, the real problem is the reluctance to provide information on what they have actively done, surely that's the least I can expect as a hardworking employee?

The whole story is not listed here (deliberately) as
I was asking advice on a specific point if law, therefore your cursory consideration of my situation is flawed.

Regards,
VB.

marybelle01

VB1981 wrote: »

You feel that the employer not paying a pensions contribution and refusing to provide either a payslip or a breakdown of deductions to your wage slip reasonable? I wonder how you'd feel if it were your payslip?

The problem is not the mistake, or the partial resolutions, the real problem is the reluctance to provide information on what they have actively done, surely that's the least I can expect as a hardworking employee?

The whole story is not listed here (deliberately) as
I was asking advice on a specific point if law, therefore your cursory consideration of my situation is flawed.

Regards,
VB.

Oh for goodness sake - you got several detailed answers to the information you gave. Anything you didn't say doesn't count because there aren't any mind readers here.

The employer has (a) actively paid you, (b) actively explained what they will do to correct the error and (c) actively sorted the issue out. I ask again - what did you "actively" expect them to do that they didn't do? They are not "not paying" pension contributions - they are making a temporary correction to give you the payment you wanted and will correct it - again, if you do not know how pension payments are made, they are not a matter of "pay now or never pay" and corrections are able to be made throughout the year. Otherwise backdated payrises etc would never be credited to pensions - and they are! And they haven't yet made any deductions at all - they have held on to 30% of the payment to make those deductions in a corrected payroll run whilst, effectively, advancing you the money they owed you as a result of their error. So there is no statement of deductions to make.

How would I feel if it were my payslip - I would be very pleased that I had an employer who was understanding enough to appreciate that I needed the money, and to get an immediate payment made as a stopgap until the paperwork could be sorted out, and I wouldn't be kicking up a fuss in a bucket over nothing. That is how I would feel.

Or to put it another way, as someone else here has already pointed out, they could have simply said "oops - you will get it next month" and there would not have been a single thing you could have done about it in law. Then you might have had something to complain about, but you still wouldn't have had a leg to stand on.

Undoubtedly, if there is a next time, they will do it the other way and make you wait until the next payroll run, when you will be able to get a full statement of all deductions made.

Seriously, if you have something to complain about that you haven't mentioned, then you can't expect comments or support about that. And on this matter, the employer has done the correct and responsible thing - and a thing that nothing in the world, and no law, could have made them do. So you have your money, the payroll will be corrected next month, your pension and other deductions will be adjusted, and you have been told all this. What is the complaint?

scheming_gypsy

VB1981 wrote: »

You feel that the employer not paying a pensions contribution and refusing to provide either a payslip or a breakdown of deductions to your wage slip reasonable? I wonder how you'd feel if it were your payslip?

The problem is not the mistake, or the partial resolutions, the real problem is the reluctance to provide information on what they have actively done, surely that's the least I can expect as a hardworking employee?

The whole story is not listed here (deliberately) as
I was asking advice on a specific point if law, therefore your cursory consideration of my situation is flawed.

Regards,
VB.

I'm guessing they can't provide a payslip because they missed payroll, and they can't re-run payroll so they'd have to pay basic minus 30%