How long to wait before being paid?

andygb

I have a cousin who started a job on 5th June. The payday for June was 23rd, but he is now being told that he will not be paid until July 24th, because his personal details should have been entered on the payroll by 15th June. He only received his "welcome pack" from the company on 16th June (the other staff members told him that it usually took two to three weeks to get it).
The company are clearly at fault here, and I have said that if I was doing the payroll, then I would have put through an estimated payment based on his gross pay and emergency tax code (which is what we do at my firm).
He is really panicking, because he cannot see how he can afford to get to work or feed himself until next payday (it is costing him £100 per week for transport).
He has asked the company if they can give him an advance, but they have told him that they do not usually do that.
I have never come across this before, but I think it is really harsh on him.

sulphate

I've had this when I've started at least 2 new jobs. Unless the company receive the necessary information for someone to be paid by the deadline date, it doesn't happen and has to be rolled over to the following month. Sometimes companies request information before the new recruit starts but it depends how organised the HR department is.

I don't think there is anything that can be done unfortunately.

£100 a week on transport seems excessive - are there any cheaper options he can utilise?

andygb

sulphate wrote: »

I've had this when I've started at least 2 new jobs. Unless the company receive the necessary information for someone to be paid by the deadline date, it doesn't happen and has to be rolled over to the following month. Sometimes companies request information before the new recruit starts but it depends how organised the HR department is.

I don't think there is anything that can be done unfortunately.

£100 a week on transport seems excessive - are there any cheaper options he can utilise?

That is it for the transport, commuting into London is expensive.

Undervalued

andygb wrote: »

I have a cousin who started a job on 5th June. The payday for June was 23rd, but he is now being told that he will not be paid until July 24th, because his personal details should have been entered on the payroll by 15th June. He only received his "welcome pack" from the company on 16th June (the other staff members told him that it usually took two to three weeks to get it).
The company are clearly at fault here, and I have said that if I was doing the payroll, then I would have put through an estimated payment based on his gross pay and emergency tax code (which is what we do at my firm).
He is really panicking, because he cannot see how he can afford to get to work or feed himself until next payday (it is costing him £100 per week for transport).
He has asked the company if they can give him an advance, but they have told him that they do not usually do that.
I have never come across this before, but I think it is really harsh on him.

They probably are but sadly this is one of those situations where there is almost nothing he can do apart from ask nicely. Any action he could potentially take would not be concluded before the end of July.

In theory if the employer fails to pay as contracted they are liable for any unavoidable losses this causes. But again, apart from asking nicely, taking action over this one month in to his employment is unlikely to end well.

ssparks2003

A shame your cousin did not use their initiative and think to contact HR to inform them of the bank details instead of just sitting there waiting for someone else to sort it.

Takeaway_Addict

Could he look at getting a small loan for the short period of time, not ideal but if paid back fully shouldn't cost to much

andygb

ssparks2003 wrote: »

A shame your cousin did not use their initiative and think to contact HR to inform them of the bank details instead of just sitting there waiting for someone else to sort it.

Thanks for that ignorand and unhelpfull reply.
He was instructed to wait for the welcome pack to arrive, and was not informed what day they got paid, or the deadline for new payment details.
As someone who deals with payroll at my company, I make sure that new starters are not overlooked.
But then, I am considerate.

TBagpuss

It is harsh - it may be worth his asking again about having an advance, pointing out that he did start 10 days before the payroll run so it does appear to be an error on their part, and one which is causing him hardship.

I can understand that company not wanting to mess with the payroll - HMRC's 'portal' and online system is terrible and it can take forever to try to make changes, they may be worried that trying to make a manual payment separate from the normal pay run will mess things up.

Has he tried speaking to his bank about a temporary extension to his overdraft? We had a new starter ask us for a letter for that purpose (in our case, it wasn't such a long delay, just that their previous employer paid wages on 1st month and we pay on 15th, and they started with us mid month and just missed the cut off)