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No acess to payslips

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Hi there I was wondering if anyone could tell me if what my employer is doing is legal?

I asked my payroll to email me copies of the last 3 months of payslips as I don't have access to where they are stored online at the moment due to ongoing site maintenance and don't receive paper copies on my payslips. Payroll told me that there would be a £2 charge for every payslip they send me by email!

Can they ask me to pay to have access to my payslips while the online site is down?

Comments

  • ohreally
    ohreally Posts: 7,525 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I would remind you employer they have a duty to provide an itemised pay statement - ERA 8 (1) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/part/I/crossheading/right-to-itemised-pay-statement

    Ask them to explain how they can provide this if you have no means to access it on their server?
    Don’t be a can’t, be a can.
  • Carrot007
    Carrot007 Posts: 4,534 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    ohreally wrote: »
    I would remind you employer they have a duty to provide an itemised pay statement - ERA 8 (1) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/part/I/crossheading/right-to-itemised-pay-statement

    Ask them to explain how they can provide this if you have no means to access it on their server?

    Indeed, however payroll could be outsourced and therefore the charge would be reasonable but chargable back to the employer.
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    You don't have access to where they are stored "at the moment"? Did you have access to them at the time? Because if they have provided them to you via online access, and you choose not to download, print or copy them, then yes, they are entitled to charge you to do that.

    Ohreally, the right to a pay statement only requires the employer to provide that statement - not to provide it in writing, on paper, or on demand at a later date. If they provided the statements online, and the OP chose to leave them there without otherwise taking a copy, the employer has met their obligations under the law.
  • ohreally
    ohreally Posts: 7,525 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    sangie595 wrote: »
    Ohreally, the right to a pay statement only requires the employer to provide that statement - not to provide it in writing, on paper, or on demand at a later date. If they provided the statements online, and the OP chose to leave them there without otherwise taking a copy, the employer has met their obligations under the law.

    R.dixon wrote: »
    I don't have access to where they are stored online at the moment due to ongoing site maintenance

    From information supplied by the op, they are unable to access their pay advice due to other factors, I don't read this as the employee failing to arrange a copy.

    Apologies if ive got the wrong end of the stick
    Don’t be a can’t, be a can.
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    ohreally wrote: »
    From information supplied by the op, they are unable to access their pay advice due to other factors, I don't read this as the employee failing to arrange a copy.

    Apologies if ive got the wrong end of the stick
    That is why I queried what "at the moment" meant. Because three months is a long "at the moment"! So if, for example, they are paid on 7th of the month, and all their pay slips were accessible on 7th of the month - but the site went into maintenance on 21st and won't be back up until 2nd, then they have been provided with their pay advice. If they want the employer to provide it again, the employer can charge for it. I'm not reading anything that says that the pay advice hasn't been available, only that it isn't accessible "at the moment". But there is no right to a copy on demand, so classification is required. Many employers now provide online pay advice, and provided they have provided reasonable access at the time of payment (barring acts of God, like the server crashing for a few days) they have complied with the law. No different than you getting your paper pay slip a few days late due to the post being delayed, and then losing it - no right to a replacement. So the OP needs to explain...
  • By the way, OP, do you know how to take a screenshot? Because it does sound like a good idea for the future to access your payslip regularly, screenshot it, and send it as an attachment to an email to yourself.
    Ex board guide. Signature now changed (if you know, you know).
  • Xbigman
    Xbigman Posts: 3,915 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    But what do you do if the payslips are provided through an onsite computer with no printer and no email access? Or through the clocking in/holiday booking system likewise with no printer or email?

    I've been taking digital photo's of my holiday bookings screen but guess what, photographing anything on site is a serious disciplinary offence (although not apparently gross misconduct).




    Darren
    Xbigman's guide to a happy life.

    Eat properly
    Sleep properly
    Save some money
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    Xbigman wrote: »
    But what do you do if the payslips are provided through an onsite computer with no printer and no email access? Or through the clocking in/holiday booking system likewise with no printer or email?

    I've been taking digital photo's of my holiday bookings screen but guess what, photographing anything on site is a serious disciplinary offence (although not apparently gross misconduct).
    Darren

    There is no legal right to a clocking in or holiday booking advice, so the simple answer to that is that it's irrelevant. And unless there is an actual case of a pay advice that is available on a system which cannot be emailed or printed that I am not aware of, then someone will have to take it to court.

    The relevant legislation predates all such things. It has been deemed that the requirement for "written" (not "in writing", which is a critical difference) pay advice is fulfilled by online pay slips. There is nothing that says more than that. So the ability to email them, the ability to print them out, or even to take them away in any form is not actually stated. It may seem "obvious" - but what seems obvious doesn't always make it to being a fact.

    All of which is speculation and irrelevant unless theOP intends to clarify what they mean.
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