NO PAY FROM EMPLOYER, please help.

QueenK

Hi there, new to mse forum but a friend suggested this could be a good place to get some suggestions.

I am 18 years old and currently work my first job for a major Hotel chain in England. I have worked here for roughly 6 weeks. on the last pay period I worked 70 hours, from september 23rd to october 23rd. Pay day is the last day of every month so 31st of October I was meant to be paid.

However on checking my bank on this day I had not been paid. I went into work the next day and asked around and near enough all average team members had had either no pay or there pay cut short. I spoke to a manager and they were apparently 'sorting it'.

Days past still no pay, my manager explained how it was accounts fault as they deal with all the finance so they were sorting it out, something went wrong with data inputting for the hours I had worked. I was then told the money would be paid into my bank within the next 2 days.... them days past and again no pay.

As I am sure you can understand I have bills to pay and had no source of income at all. This is my first pay check from the company so I have worked over a month for them and not had a penny.

Speaking to my manager again they said they just dont know whats happening and apparently I'm now getting a 'check sent out' to me. Seems to be just another lie. So on monday myself and manager are going to see the accounts people who deal with our pay.

I was meant to be paid 10 days ago.

My question is what are my legal rights? What can I do, what can't they do? I want to go in there fully prepared so I am trying to get as much information as possible. From my own internet research I understand that the non-payments of wages accounts to an infringement of the statutory right not to have unauthorised deductions made from wages. Not paying me is classed as a 100% deduction.


What should I say when I go? What are the facts and laws regarding this situation?

Thanks for reading, hope somebody can help :cool:

jobbingmusician

It sounds as if you are doing a good job researching the legalities of this situation, so my post is going to be more about how YOU handle things.

You will doubtless be aware that you have no ‘security of employment’ rights, so if you make a big fuss and the employer doesn’t like it, they can terminate your employment for any reason (not connected with discrimination against protected characteristics such as gender or race).

Are you genuinely penniless? If so, I would go to your manager and explain this, and ask if it is possible for the company to issue you with a loan to tide you over until this matter is sorted out. If it was my company (and this HAS happened to me, due to the bank screwing up) I would already have reassured employees that any GENUINE additional costs which they incur due to non-payment of salary will be reimbursed. My understanding is that this is your legal right anyway – they have broken your contract (do you have one, stating a pay date?) by not paying you on time, so they are legally responsible for things such as overdraft charges.

HOWEVER

As you are a new employee, you really want to keep your head down. If you have parents or relatives who are willing to lend you money to tide you over, I would approach them first. If it was me I would also have a look on the Companies House register at your company, to reassure myself that they haven’t registered an intent to wind the company up, or anything like that. (Unlikely if they are a large chain, but not impossible). And I would Google the company name to see if there is any news that they are rumoured to be going broke.

I would also support my colleagues, especially those who DO have employment rights, in any joint action against or approaches to the employers. I would suggest that someone less new than you are approaches HR to see what is happening – is it just your particular hotel that it suffering this way, or is it company wide? I do wonder if it’s a local problem and should be brought to more national attention within the chain……HR might well be the people to approach if you need a loan!

brz3igler

Hi there. I understand your situation since I could somehow relate my experience before to that. It's just that I did not go to a hotel. Now to make the long story short, I ended up leaving the job and ended up with a better paying and trustworthy company. I suggest for the mean time, try looking for another job or try working part time while waiting for everything in the previous company to be settled. I actually have in mind, why not try online part time jobs? or something. I have come across one website before that pays members who can be contacted for logo design, etc. If you're creative, maybe you can try your luck with that. Who knows?

Hope this helps. Godspeed!