Haven't been paid annual leave?!?

H16HP01N7

My girlfriend has recently changed her job, and we believe that she is owed money from Annual Leave that she didn't take. I'll try and tell everything that is related to this.

In October we suffered a miscarriage, and she obviously took time off, a total of 3 weeks. During this time she received sick pay. She was due for a week off during that time, but she requested to have the holiday cancelled, as she was signed off sick via a medical exemption form from the doctor. We believe that the cancellation of the booked holiday period happened because the payslip that month was very low in relation to her average pay.This is obviously because of the 3 weeks off sick.

In late November she went back to work and worked up until December when she handed in her notice due to getting a new job. She decided to change jobs because the Manager had acted unprofessionally and had claimed (3 days after the miscarriage) that Sarah was milking the time off... I know!!!

She finished her months notice 08/01/14, but continued to work Bank work (working when they were short of staff) until this coming Sunday (9/2/14) when she has one last shift. She has started her new job and will be leaving the first job completely from that point.

When she received her last payslip, it showed that she hadn't been paid the 73.5 hours of Annual leave, as we were expecting, and as a result, we have plunged into a financial crisis including rent arrears, debts and the threat of losing our home due to these circumstances.

She spoke to her old manager on Tuesday (5/2/14) about the missing pay, and she was told that it would be taken up with the owner (who pays the wages etc). She was told that she'd hear from them yesterday (06/02/14) and we didn't. When she contacted her manager today (7/2/14) she was told that the owner had paid her her Annual Leave over a period of 3 months, including the monthish she had off due to the miscarriage, and that no money was owed for Annual Leave.

We know that this is not correct and that she is owed that money. And we believe that it is just an attempt from the owner to get out of paying it, as he is known for short changing peoples wages and not paying all the hours that they worked.

We would like to know how we take this further, and who we can report this to, as we believe that he is doing things like this regularly, and needs to be stopped.

Thank you

Leigh

rxp

Assuming you are right that she had accrued but unusued annual leave when her employment terminated, you can bring a claim for unlawful deduction from wages in the employment tribunal. However, there are fees to pay. Practically, it would probably be best to say to the employer that this is what you intent to do, but will obviously be timeconsuming for him to reply and would be a lot quicker if he just paid the money owed. I suggest writing to him setting out clearly what is owed and why as a first step. You can use the letter as the basis of your claim if you have to take it that far.

You have 3 months from the time the money should have been paid to bring your claim - this is a strict time limit so don't miss it!

H16HP01N7

What counts as the time that it should have been paid, is it the day she officially left full time employment (EG when when she went to Bank work) or from the last paid day after she left their employment. Because this is the difference between 3 months to sort it and 2 months to sort it.

rxp

When did she receive the payment of her final wages? Suggest you treat that day as the day when the amount should have been paid. Best to be cautious on time limits.

Poppie68

You need to double check her pay for the 3 week period in October..was she paid SSP ? Are you aware she would'nt of got paid for the first 3 days of sickness, so if would of worked out 1 weeks full pay for her holiday, 1 week SSP paid for 2 days and 1 week SSP paid for 5 days...this is presuming she works 5 days.

getmore4less

When is the holiday year?

if Jan to Dec it can be lost as it should be taken within the year and there was time.

TO start you need to ask for a full breakdown of all pay going back to where they say they have been paying holiday(full breakdown should allready be on the payslips.

Compare this with what you think she should have been paid and ask for any shortfall with documented backup.

if thta is not agreed then you can look at other options.

H16HP01N7

She last got paid last Friday (31/01/14), so we'll take that as the start day as the date from which we have 3 months.

As for the October pay, it was definately low, we're going to request new copies of the payslips, and we'll take it from there. But her pay has definitely not been paid properly, and unlike a lot of the other workers there that haven't been paid the hours they've worked, we're not going to let this go.

Also, in case it goes that far, what sort of cost are we looking at for a tribunal, for us and him, just so we can know if it's going to be worth paying out for the return.

H16HP01N7

getmore4less wrote: »

When is the holiday year?

if Jan to Dec it can be lost as it should be taken within the year and there was time.

The holiday year runs from end of March to End of March (basically the same as the Tax year)

rxp

£160 to issue your claim and £230 for the hearing (if it gets that far).

He does not have to pay any fees to the tribunal to defend his claim, if he wins. He might pay a lawyer to deal with it though.

H16HP01N7

rxp wrote: »

£160 to issue your claim and £230 for the hearing (if it gets that far).

He does not have to pay any fees to the tribunal to defend his claim, if he wins. He might pay a lawyer to deal with it though.

Ugh, hardly seems worth chasing up £500 by that route then

rxp

I agree - the tribunal fees system is very unfair. Doesn't stop you at least threatening to bring a claim though!

You could also try to engage ACAS who may talk to your employer - have a google to read about their free services.