Paid Monthly in arrears - final payment?

GSTAR

Hi all,

I recently left my job of 5+ years to start my own business.

I have been getting paid on the last Friday of every month and my contract states the following:

Your pay will be paid monthly in arrears by credit transfer (unless an alternative method of payment has been agreed) on the last Friday of the month.

I left my job on Friday the 30th of June, which was payday. However based on the "paid monthly in arrears" statement, I assume that payment would have been for the month of May and not June. Therefore I was expecting another (final) payment on Friday 28th July. However I did not receive this payment.

I have raised this with HR and they have advised they will speak to their accountants in relation to this. I haven't heard anything back yet but was just wondering if I have got this right? Am I due another payment or have I just misunderstood this?

Guest101

I wouldn't have expected that to be honest.


Your pay slip typically tells you which period the payment covers, but I certainly don't read that clause as being a month in arrears

cr1mson

Arrears just means after you have worked so on 30th June you would have been paid for your June hours which will have already been worked. Wouldn't expect any payment in July unless holiday pay owed or overtime for June or something like that certainly not a full months salary.

GSTAR

Thanks for the prompt reply. I thought that may have been the case.

The only thing I would say though, is that the last Friday of the month may sometimes fall 5/6 days before the month ends. This means you'd get paid for days which you have not yet worked, so in effect you're being paid in advance.

Could it be there is a "cut off" date in the month for which you get paid for? E.g suppose the cut off date is the 15th of every month, so you'd get paid at the end of June for the period 15th May - 15th June. My wage slip doesn't mention the dates I have been paid for, just says "June wage slip".

SouthernTeeze

It's a amazing how many people think this lol, sorry. Your final pay was always going to be in June when you ended.

We get so many people ringing up demanding to be paid this additional month, oh dear - the disappointment.

In essence what 'in arrears' means is you're not getting paid in advance. When you first take up a job, you work for the period and then you are paid. That is the 'in arrears' bit.

The only way you'll get any additional pay is if you're owing holiday but you should have got all of that in June when you left.

TBagpuss

As SothernTeeze says, if you get paid at the end of the month in arrears you're being paid for the month you've just worked - i.e. you get paid at the end of June for June.
The alternative it that you get paid (part ) in advance - for instance, you could be paid on the 15th of the month 2 weeks in advance and 2 in arrears ( i.e. your pay on 15th June covers 1-30 June)

It's likely that you sometimes got paid a little in advance, as if the last Friday of the month was (say) 25th , you'd probably be paid for the period 1st-31st so would technically get 6 days in advance. It's possible that you were actually paid n arrears, but I think you would know, as it would result in your pay fluctuating slightly month to month depending on when the last Friday fell.

getmore4less

Not everywhere uses pay periods of calendar months.

It is not unknown for the pay period to be something like the 15th->14th and paid at/near the end of the month.

Also some places have different pay periods for extra payments so may run calendar month for the normal pay period but have a cut off earlier for overtime, or even run that a full month behind.

Should always establish when you start a job what the pay periods and the pay days are.

General_Grant

If they were actually due to be paid for June at the end of July then, even though it is more than five years since they started in the job, they would remember having to wait two months from when the started to when they got their first one month's pay.