Unlawful deduction of wages

hannahbond37

Hi everyone, gonna be a long winded one but need some (appropriate) advice...

My partner is a plasterer who worked (until very recently) for a very small firm in Bristol. He was told that in order to continue employment with this company he would have to work away in London all week...of course he agreed, slightly more money and we do have a mortgage to pay! He gets paid a week in hand for work he has already undertaken.

Last week he was taken ill on the weekend so contacted his boss to say he would be too unwell to work away for the week (this was fine, we didn't even expect for him to get paid for this ((even though he should)) but he had worked the week beginning the 23rd down in London he was waiting to receive his weekly wages of £520 on the 6th. The 6th arrives and there is no sign of his wages, now this was not completely out of the blue, his boss is a ruthless man who has been known to fire people on the spot, very aggressive and dogmatic, but my partner has never had a specific problem with him so we didn't think he would withhold wages.

My partner (Callum) rang him to ask about the wages and was aggressively reminded that when he worked away a bag of plaster ripped when he picked it up (occupational hazard I'm sure) and was asked whether this was why he didn't return to work, implying he was embarrassed, his boss asked him to ring the next day to talk about wages (this was seriously in the tone of telling off a child), so as you can imagine Callum has rang over the weekend and although being told he would 'have them in a couple of hours' they still haven't materialised.

I think my partner is scared of his boss so just wants to leave the whole situation but I don't believe that someone should be able to get away with this, I'm going to draft a letter asking that the wages get paid in 7 days under the Employment Rights act section 13 and 'unlawful deduction of wages' has anyone got any advice on writing a letter like this? And do people think this is a good idea/ have any better ideas on what to do?

thanks in advance!!!

Charlotte17

Bit hard to read as no paragraphs but do you mean he gets paid a week in arrears?

If you mean he gets paid in advance however as you say "He gets paid a week in hand for work he has already undertaken" then he is paid in advance therefore the short of one week is correct as long as he got paid the following week?

hannahbond37

He gets paid for the work he has done in the previous week so for example he works

23rd - 27th of Feb

Gets paid:

6th March

Charlotte17

hannahbond37 wrote: »

He gets paid for the work he has done in the previous week so for example he works

23rd - 27th of Feb

Gets paid:

6th March

So that is a week in arrears not a week in hand

So they stopped the week he had worked?

If he gets stopped this week too he has been stopped 2 weeks money

The company obviously do not know what a week in arrears is

Charlotte17

The stop of all wages is for the bag of plaster that ripped is that what they are saying?

hannahbond37

I think it's the same thing:

if wages are paid a week in hand. Sometimes if an employee is paid weekly, they have to work for two weeks before they receive any pay. This means that they are always, effectively, being paid a week in arrears and are owed a week's pay throughout their employment. Citizens Advice

Yes but as he was ill he didn't work 2nd - 6th of March (even though he should be paid sickness I think that's too much to ask of this company)

hannahbond37

They aren't explicitly saying that, but the boss works on a system of intimidation and he was trying to embarrass my partner

Charlotte17

hannahbond37 wrote: »

They aren't explicitly saying that, but the boss works on a system of intimidation and he was trying to embarrass my partner

Then your partner needs to ask for the payment to be made in 48 hours or he will take it further

Before anyone says he can be fired it's this that makes bosses do what they like to staff who will not stand up for themselves.

kingfisherblue

You have a number of identifying details in your OP. I would edit it to remove them.

McKneff

Being paid a week in hand is exactly the same thing as being paid a week in arrears.

Charlotte17

McKneff wrote: »

Being paid a week in hand is exactly the same thing as being paid a week in arrears.

Only called a week in hand when you leave work not whilst there

This week in hand payment will be made when the employee leaves the job.