Employer not paying wages??

fhill

I am employed full time for a large call centre. I get paid on the last working day of each month in arrears. Around October we were sent an internal e-mail from management informing us that there was an option for December to take an advance of £500 payable on the 20th December and this mount would be deducted of our salary normally payable on the 31st December. I confirmed that I would need this and was added to the relevant spreadsheet to avail of this. I then subsequently received an email from my manager at the time (who is no longer with the company) that was sent to my team only asking if there was anyone else wishing to avail of the advance as to date she only had my name and 2 other members of staff. Due to this when I got my salary on 31st November I paid of a number of bills etc that realistically could have been put off until after Christmas as I thought I would have this £500 to purchase my Christmas presents. When in work about 10 days ago I heard word on the call floor that the advance was only available to employees who had been in employment with the company for more than a year (I only began my contract around May/June) I then approached a manager about this who informed me this was the case however as it stood my name was still on the spreadsheet for the advance and had been sent to payroll. He then informed me that it would be a case as to whether they looked into whether I had been there for a year or not, I was told that it was possible this would be overlooked. I have now received no payment into my account and am really really stuck as I have not a penny for Christmas. The question I am putting to you is do I have any leg to stand on as I still have all the emails informing me of the option for the advance, the reply I sent to opt in for it and also the email asking if anyone else was interested which confirmed I was on the list. I never received any written advice that I would not receive the advance and the verbal advice I got was off the record so to say and none the less was after I had spent my November salary. I am just really stuck and need any help you can give me. If it is possible for me to defend this matter I need to do it sooner rather than later as I know our payroll department only operate Monday-Friday and it is Christmas in 5 days. If possible can someone please reply with an opinion ASAP Any help would be great.

AP007

You have not had any money stopped or not been paid

The person who informed you that you could have the advance obviously either didn't know the company rules or didn't know how long you had been there.

Would you have not spent the November pay by now anyway?

Not a great deal you can really do about it I say other then try to get an emergency overdraft or use a credit card if you have one till pay day.

fhill

The original email came from our ops manager generically to everyone and it never mentioned anything about a selection criteria. It was implied this was available to everyone hence my frustration. At no point was I told that I wasn't going to get the advance if I had of I could have deferred certain payments until January and therefore had money for my Christmas presents?

AP007

fhill wrote: »

The original email came from our ops manager generically to everyone and it never mentioned anything about a selection criteria. It was implied this was available to everyone hence my frustration. At no point was I told that I wasn't going to get the advance if I had of I could have deferred certain payments until January and therefore had money for my Christmas presents?

You can try to get the advance but it may be a long shot.

Does it say in your contract about pay advances for December?

fhill

Don't have a copy of my contract to hand but I doubt it. If I was to try how would I go about wording the email? Any ideas??

AP007

fhill wrote: »

Don't have a copy of my contract to hand but I doubt it. If I was to try how would I go about wording the email? Any ideas??

Don't mess around with an email go find the person as they only have a few days to pay you.

timbo58

OK, print out the 2 emails as unless somewhere in those emails or your contract this offer had a caveat excluding you, then the company should honour this IMHO.

Speak POLITELY to your new manager or failing that your accounts section TODAY.

That being said (& as has been pointed out already) your employer is not withholding wages due, they aren't due until 31/12/13.
Also -any advance on wages offered is a courtesy from the employer, they do not have to do this and can refuse for almost any reason they choose.