Missed business trip, being made to pay replacement flights

jonaboot

I work for a small business based in the UK but with occasional work in Northern Ireland. On Thursday, one of my colleagues was meant to fly to NI for business, but missed his flight after his car broke down on the motorway. There was no reason to suspect this might happen - the car had just passed an MOT but because of this he had to get a later flight and the airline would not allow a free change of flight. My boss now says my colleague has to pay for this replacement flight himself as is going to take it out of his next pay check directly. Is this fair, and more importantly, is this legal ?! To add to this - the night before the flight, my boss made him work until midnight to finish (unscheduled) work before he left the country (not work that he should have been completing in office hours but additional unforeseen work !). The boss claims my colleague did not leave enough time to get to the airport and would have missed the flight anyway, but if all went to plan he would have arrived 20mins before baggage check closed (so not the case !) He is currently on minimum wage, so the cost of the flight is a week's wages. Any help/advice on this would be greatly appreciated !

TBagpuss

quite possibly not. What does his contract say? Normally deductions from pay can only be made in specific circumstances -

• required or authorised by legislation (for example, income tax or national insurance deductions)
• authorised by the worker's contract - provided the worker has been given a written copy of the relevant terms or a written explanation of them before it is made
• consented to by the worker in writing before it is made.
• recoupment of overpayments of wages or expenses

I'd suggest he contacts the ACAS helpline for some immediate advice.

If he is on minimum wage then there is a separate issue about whether making him stay to midnight will have pushed him below min. wage (unless he was paid overtime for this). This will depend on his over all hours worked. He may find the government help line useful - 0800 917 2368

theoretica

Has he checked any travel insurance he may have? He also needs to prepare himself as he could find himself facing a disciplinary for wasting company money.

boliston

Who on earth aims to catch a flight with only 20 minutes to spare?

specialboy

His employer CAN'T deduct his wages if it takes him below the minimum wage and I'm fairly sure they can't deduct anyway unless they have a signed agreement saying that he would cough up.

getmore4less

Is the car covered for business?

Next time use a taxi.

Ask for evidence of the insurance cover especially for health cover
(I wonder if they have any?)

20mins for bag drop is a bit tight for some airports, but for others it is more than you need.

eg.
Luton can be a nightmare unless you have fast track
Norwich is often so quiet the risk is they are asleep.

PenguinJim

getmore4less wrote: »

20mins for bag drop is a bit tight for some airports, but for others it is more than you need.

eg.
Luton can be a nightmare unless you have fast track
Norwich is often so quiet the risk is they are asleep.

Yes, but surely you arrive at airports early not just to provide time for baggage, but also for unexpected delays? Traffic, queues, paperwork issues, etc?

One hour for domestic, two hours for international is my rule of thumb, at a bare minimum.

Then again, perhaps I'm not the fairest judge as airport stress is perhaps my biggest worry in life - have I packed everything I need? Will my suitcase items throw up any problems? Anything strange or unacceptable in my hand luggage? What are the battery rules?!? Fluids?!?! Will I be on time? Will my visa be OK? All of my papers and passport in order? Do I need paperwork for another flight? Proof of funds? Am I at the right desk? Got my ticket? The ticket is for the right time and date? Is the gate ten miles away? Am I sure that date is TODAY's date? I fly a lot and I've never had a problem so far, but it's definitely stressful for me! :eek: - actually, come to think of it, once in the Philippines I took a taxi to Manila Airport, and after arriving and trying to check in it turned out that my terminal (Terminal 3, if memory serves - nothing crazy!) was actually a geographically-separate airport and I had to quickly get another taxi and dash through morning rush-hour traffic (which is a delight in Manila) to get to the right location and then begin the check-in process! It would have been impossible if I'd only allowed the minimum amount of time. (And it would have been my fault if I'd missed it - critical research failure - although one might expect that an airport's terminals are accessible from, y'know, the airport! )

CKhalvashi

PenguinJim wrote: »

One hour for domestic, two hours for international is my rule of thumb, at a bare minimum.

And at least two hours to connect if necessary. Airports will state 30 minutes, but it's always best to be sure.

With the airline I use regularly (think the blue one), check-in closes 40 minutes before the flight is scheduled to depart with no exceptions.

Leaving anything less than 20 minutes over this is, IMO, frankly stupid. Preferably 30 minutes before close, especially on business trip.

gingerdad

Before all the security changes I used to fly regularly (when you could still check the in with 10 minutes to go) I'd always aim to be there no more than 30 minutes to go usually small regional airports. My record was being dropped outside Liverpool with 11 minutes to go. Never missed a flight.

In this case Id suggest the boss is being unreasonable not sure he has any legal case

duchy

The boss may not have a legal case but if the employee has been there less than two years and fights it- they could be fired anyway.

It may be worth waiting til the boss has calmed down and then apologizing and try and work out some kind of compromise (eg offer to pay half back over several months ). Just showing some find of remorse and offering to put things right may mean the boss is far more reasonable once they have calmed down. If this was an important meeting (as the extra work the night before implies it was) then the boss may be feeling very let down. A lot depends what they are like towards their employees generally though.

I used to work in the business travel industry -and travelled on business a fair bit. I always allowed extra time - I do think your friend needs to take some responsibility for cutting things fine though.

nodiscount

duchy wrote: »

The boss may not have a legal case but if the employee has been there less than two years and fights it- they could be fired anyway.

It may be worth waiting til the boss has calmed down and then apologizing and try and work out some kind of compromise (eg offer to pay half back over several months ). Just showing some find of remorse and offering to put things right may mean the boss is far more reasonable once they have calmed down. If this was an important meeting (as the extra work the night before implies it was) then the boss may be feeling very let down. A lot depends what they are like towards their employees generally though.

I used to work in the business travel industry -and travelled on business a fair bit. I always allowed extra time - I do think your friend needs to take some responsibility for cutting things fine though.

If you sacked for asserting a statutory right (like the right not to have unauthorised deductions from your wages), then you do not need 2 years to claim unfair dismissal.