What are my options for unpaid wages

tasha_readdy

Hi everyone.

I started work on October 4th 2015 and was told I would be paid on the 13th of November as the 15th falls on the weekend, which is the date that they regularly pay employees..I was told since Friday my salary should be in my account, yet there is nothing...My employer is claiming that my wages left their account yet my bank is claiming nothing is on their system. I have a few questions if you can be kind enough to take the time to answer.

What are my options now? can my employer really dismiss this issue by claiming there is nothing more they can do? do they not have a right to trace? unless tracing meant what they said about confirming my salary left their account?

I also re-confirmed a few times already if they have the correct bank details, then again someone in their payroll could have accidentally in putted a wrong digit/number? or is it a case where it is automatically set up from HR i.e. account number and sort code programmed rather then manually inputting it to process payment? or do payroll manually input the account details and sort code when sending payment?

What rights do I have now? I really do not want to threaten them with legal action but surely 4 days late is cause for concern? I have emailed my bank statements to them showing no wages have come in, which they requested. All they tell me is that we have confirmed it left our bank, yet my bank which is Nationwide are claiming nothing is appearing on their system.

Would my employer check if they had sent my wages to the correct account when faced with this issue rather then checking if they left their bank? the only reason me and my bank can think of is they sent it to the wrong account, but surely they would have known that by now when looking into this issue? or are they simply guessing they have the right details and only want to see if my wages left their account?

What can my employer do about this problem? what is the protocol for unpaid pages for the company?I am sure they cannot brush me off by telling me it has gone from their account and nothing more they can do, that is unfair surely?

Lastly they claimed it was through BACS but it should have arrived on the same day the wages got processed as other felloe employees have recieved theirs. Even if it takes 3 days or so it should show on my bank's system right? which my bank is saying nothing at all is showing on their main system

Can small details such as County address have any bearing in terms of transferring wages? on my pay slip it states another County rather then my own, well where I live I can come under 2 counties but my bank details have County that does not show on the pay slip, but surely that does not make a difference right? as long as sort code, account number and name is correct right?

Any advice and opinions are welcome please.

glentoran99

they asked you to send them bank statements to prove it wasn't paid, ask them to send you proof it was, cant imagine they will be so forthcoming

tasha_readdy

Well my bank did tell me to advise my employers to send proof through their own bank to my bank as to when and how my wages were paid.. My other concern is during any investigation am I by law entitled to wages soon as possible? surely I do not have to wait for weeks and months on end for investigation and traces?

thanks again!

burnoutbabe

If one of the bacs payments failed (ie closed account/wrong number) then I think you'd be alered as the payee. So the payment for all the payroll has left them. But not gone to you so error in whenever your bank details were entered onto their system (or maybe you gave them wrong)

So give them the bank statements and ask them to double check the account number it was paid to.

I'd ask them to get back to you ASAP, the check of account number against what you gave them can be done tomorrow. Now if its gone to an account that you did not give them, they should immediately pay you the amount owed and up to them to get it back from the wrong account.

Who are you dealing with? I'd email tomorrow the head of whoever is looking into it and your boss, saying you need that money TODAY (they can do via faster payments on the day).

TBagpuss

It is reasonable to ask them to provide evidence from their bank as to the account the money was paid to.
As an employer, I would take steps to arrange payment subject to confirmation that you would cooperate fully (and authorise your bank to do so) to trace the lost payment and that you'd immediately repay the money if you did receive a second payment

It does sound as though either payroll or the bank has made an error with the number . How did you give them the details to start with? If you provided a bank statement or typed details then it's unlikely that there was a mistake on your end. If the details were handwritten or given verbally then there may be an issue as to whether the error was on your part or theirs, which might affect responsibility.

Unless the error was on your part then I think you are entitled to be paid, and it is the employers problem to address with the bank to recover the money.

dancingfairy

I appreciate from your point of view it is 4 days late but Sunday is not a bank working day (I'm not sure about saturday) so in bank days your payment is 2 days late.
For Nationwide is that a traditional building society account where you have to give a sort code, account number and then reference number (which refers to your account?)
Assuming they sent it, then either it is slow/delayed or if the sort code and account number are wrong it will either get bounced back to the sender or it will sit in a suspense account at your bank if they can't figure out where it's meant to go until they sort it.
How did you advise work of your bank details? In an email or on a form? Have you double, triple checked the details you gave were correct (i know how easy it is to get digits back to front etc).
Your employer needs to check whether any payments have been returned and they need to also double, triply check that they have entered exactly what you told them.
If you are certain the information is correct and they are certain, then yes they will have to ask their bank to investigate if it doesn't turn up.
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burnoutbabe

what happened in the end?