are you 'paid' when you receive a cheque??

ProperLet_Mick

My employers and I came to a compromise agreement on 17th December to leave the business and despite me asking my solicitor to stipulate BACS payment by noon today the agreement was worded that they had to pay my termination figure within 7 days of the agreement being signed.

Having worked hard for them for 4 years and this year me ending on 146% of my target and bringing in well over a £1m of business, the way they and their solicitor have gone about things are a total disgrace.

They got to the point where they refused to negotiate further and were calling my bluff, so I agreed. But in doing so they won't pay me the 4 days holidays I'm owed, some expenses and they terminated my employment a week before we'd really agreed the deal. An now I have a £1500 legal bill despite them finally agreeing on an amount I'd suggested in attempting to negotiate without a solicitor. Their behaviour has been unnecessarily malicious and uncalled for.

I know fine well they will send me a cheque on Xmas eve which won't clear in time for most of my bills and like anything in a court of law it's down to proving your 'loss'.

Question is, if they do do this, have they broke the agreement?

To me, a cheque turning up on the day of payment doesn't give me funds to use?

Opinions appreciated a lot folks

grumbler

If the agreement was "within 7 days", didn't stipulate BACS and you receive the cheque within 7 days, then I don't see how it was broken.

PasturesNew

It's broken the spirit of the agreement ... but not the law. They just hate you and have dragged you over all the coals and are wringing this final injustice out of the arrangement. Their objective is to cause you pain .... and they have deliberately chosen to pay by cheque just to be RSoles.

Just let it go .... and breathe out. This shower are behind you now.

Happy Christmas.

Flobberchops

I'd say it's a grey area. If the stipulation was to have funds delivered and accessible by a certain date, they'd probably be culpable. But if the wording is just "paid by X date" then them issuing a cheque by X is probably within the letter of the ruling - they've at that point committed to let you have the money. Yes, the cheque clearance cycle is up to 5 working days, but they could (successfully, I expect) argue that that's no longer under their control or responsibility. Cheques are generally accepted as payment on-the-spot even if they won't clear for several days. If you were paying a plumber by cheque, you'd give him the cheque at the end of the working day; he wouldn't turn up to do the job only once the funds had successfully cleared.

It makes you wonder though. Would the same principle hold up if they gave you a cheque post-dated, say, for the 1st January 2099? There's got to be some commonsense divide between present and future payments. Ask your solicitor if he knows of any legal precedents, maybe. On a more practical note, do you have any bargaining power over how the payment is delivered? I.e., are you able to decline to accept a cheque as payment and insist on an alternative?

Ben8282

You have already incurred £1500 legal expenses. Assuming you get the cheque and it doesn't bounce just leave it at that. You don't want to waste any more money on legal expenses.


Unless the agreement stipulated 'cleared funds to be received by' then I would say yes, you have been paid when you receive the cheque.