Withheld final pay

Impius

Hi there

Wondering if someone can help - will try and keep it brief!

I recently resigned from my position and after working two weeks of a four week notice period, I was put on garden leave. I had an prior email confirmation that I would be paid on the 1st May as normal for the full month of April and up until the 8th May along with a no sickness bonus and accrued annual leave.

I emailed the employer on the 29th April just to confirm everything was still in place so that I could budget appropriately for the start of the month and prior to starting my new role. I got a reply saying that a letter was in the post regarding final pay and P45, and not to contact them further on the advice of their outsourced HR/legal advisors.

On the 1st May no pay was received and this morning the referenced letter arrived saying that they were withholding pay whilst checking some company credit card transactions (none of them are dodgy or anything, they are all work-related or were agreed expenditure). The letter says they will endeavour to conduct the checks as quickly as possible.

This has left me unable to meet financial commitments (I like most people have all my direct debits set up to come out shortly after payday) and, based on our prior agreements I had no reason to think I wouldn't be paid and therefore had no time to plan or sort something else out.

I have today replied to their letter with an email explaining all of the above and asking for immediate resolution and payment but I just wanted to check firstly whether they are allowed to do this (especially if a payment date has been specifically agreed) and secondly, what else can I do about this as I need my money urgently.

Thanks in advance

maninthestreet

Do you have any savings to fall back on at all?

Impius

Unfortunately not, hence the desperation! To be honest, that doesn't really matter as what I'm more concerned with understanding is my rights and the legality of the situation - and what I can do to get a resolution as soon as possible.

Undervalued

Impius wrote: »

Unfortunately not, hence the desperation! To be honest, that doesn't really matter as what I'm more concerned with understanding is my rights and the legality of the situation - and what I can do to get a resolution as soon as possible.

Well the legality is simple, they do not have the right to withhold pay.

Obviously if you do owe them any money they are entitled to ask you for it and make a claim against you if you fail to pay. However that doesn't give them the right to withhold what they owe you just in case.

However, the practicality is more difficult. Realistically any action you could take to force them to pay would take time and they will, presumably, have paid you long before then.

Theoretically if you suffer any losses as a result of them failing to honour their obligations you could make a claim against them for your losses. You would have a duty to take all reasonable steps to keep the losses as low as possible.

Not much help I'm afraid but realistically that is the position.