Employer is requesting holiday pay back pre tax after it was being retained from wage

BLe

I left work on emergency leave and now have just received a letter from them stating that I went back to work for one day to resign, when in no way did I even mention resigning, I asked if they would keep my job but I didn't get a yes or no answer. I was there for 12 weeks and retained money from my wage each month. I was not being paid minimum wage under the agreement I would be paid for the summer holidays (6 weeks). Now they are asking for the 6 weeks wages before tax and ni, which means I would of been getting paid 90p per hour under the minimum wage. Is this unfair dismissal, does this count as them making me redundant?how do I go about this?thank you

Comms69

BLe wrote: »

I left work on emergency leave - when? and now have just received a letter from them stating that I went back to work for one day to resign, when in no way did I even mention resigning, I asked if they would keep my job but I didn't get a yes or no answer. - need some time frames on this. I was there for 12 weeks and retained money from my wage each month. - what do you mean retained money each month? I was not being paid minimum wage under the agreement I would be paid for the summer holidays (6 weeks). Now they are asking for the 6 weeks wages before tax and ni, which means I would of been getting paid 90p per hour under the minimum wage. Is this unfair dismissal, does this count as them making me redundant?how do I go about this?thank you

You were there 12 weeks, it counts as you being sacked by the sounds of it.


- you don't have any employment rights in regards redundancy or unfair dismissal in this case.


HOWEVER obviously you should be paid NMW.


Can you just clarify what your job actually was? and what was 'emergency leave'?

BLe

I left 6 weeks ago and they have just contacted me now. On the day I spoke to them about having to leave due to an emergency I asked to keep my job open for me to which I did not get a yes or a no just a "we will speak about it another time" which never happened. They were paying me 90p below nmw in order to retain some money to put towards holiday pay, but now as they are asking for all my holiday pay back it means the year we're under paying me. The job was within a creche. Thanks

seashore22

I think what you mean is that they spread your wages over the full 12 months to give you a certain amount each month rather than just paying you for the months that you work. At least I think that's how term time working is often done. I'm not sure that being below NMW is relevant in this case.

I'm not sure how this works if you just up and leave, which is what you have done. Someone with more experience should be along soon to say how wages are calculated in your case.

Did you really expect them to keep your job open for you when you up and leave with no idea when you will be back and after such a short time. They may or may not be calculating your ages correctly, but it's clear this job is finished.

seashore22

Having read your posts again I'm not sure if my assumptions were correct.

How many weeks do you work per year?

Is this term time working?

Did you receive any wages after you went on emergency leave?

What does your contract say about wages, holiday pay etc?

BLe

It is term time and I didn't receive any wages after I went on emergency leave. They kept my first weeks wage in arrears and I had a week off paid within the 12 weeks. The contract says if I have accrued more holiday paid than worked for i have to pay it back which I am ok with its just the amount they are asking for. They are asking before tax and ni and if I pay the full amount they are askingit will mean I have been paid below minimum wage for my age for 12 weeks. Thanks

Comms69

What was the emergency that lasted 6 weeks?! Im sorry but I think you've been quite unreasonable with the complaint about not having a job to go back to.


In regards the wages, need a bit more detail.


Can you clarify your weekly hours, and your age. What you got paid and how much paid time off you've had.

ohreally

What is the background to this emergency leave and why didn’t you have meaningful conversation around it beforehand?

polgara

I'm confused - term time only means you don't have annual leave as such as its accounted for in your salary

Term-time working means an employee works only during school term times. The main principle of term time working is that, to be absent from work, staff use their entire annual leave entitlement which will not cover all the time needed. So employees take an amount of unpaid leave, in effect “buying” the difference from their salary.

So was this week off part of the non-working element of your contract, or in addition?

Comms69

polgara wrote: »

I'm confused - term time only means you don't have annual leave as such as its accounted for in your salary

Term-time working means an employee works only during school term times. The main principle of term time working is that, to be absent from work, staff use their entire annual leave entitlement which will not cover all the time needed. So employees take an amount of unpaid leave, in effect “buying” the difference from their salary.

So was this week off part of the non-working element of your contract, or in addition?

Im slightly confused by what you mean. A fulltime salary includes holiday pay too.

nomoneytoday

I'd calculate your total number of hours worked, accrued and taken holidays and the gross salary received.
Once you have this, you can see whether it's over or under the NMW and what's due either way