Underpaid and having to wait a month

jimmylad007

Hi all

I'm paid by the hour (monthly) and I received my wage slip today, which seemed surprisingly smaller than I was expecting. I totaled up the amount of hours I believe I have worked and compared it to what the wage slip said, and there was a substantial difference.

I brought it up it with my manager, who checked my clocking in/out records, and agreed that there was a mistake. He rang head office who looked into it and admitted there had been a "clerical error in the payroll department". They apologized for the issue and agreed to pay the remainder. Unfortunately for me however, I won't be seeing it until the next pay day in a months time, when it will be added on to the hours that I work between now and then. My manager told them that it needed to be paid sooner than this, but they were having none of it.

So this puts me in a difficult position financially for the next month. We're not talking just a few pounds, it's hundreds. Having no savings to fall back on, the only way to pay all the bills would be to get a payday loan, which I very much want to avoid. The two things really that I need advice on are:

Is there anything that I can do to get paid sooner? It's my money and their mistake. Their system has a full record of all the hours that I've worked. Why should money that is rightfully mine be sitting in their bank account?

Is there any kind of legal right to delay payment of bills due to such an occurrence? My manager said he is happy to give me written proof of the mistake to pass on if need be.

Thanks for reading.

sangie595

Your bills have to be paid - or you need permission to delay payment. Toy have no legal right to refuse to pay what is due.

It will take as long to go to court to get the money - longer- so there really isn't anything you can do other than ask the employer for an advance on the next payment or the money they owe you.

discat11

It is against the wages act to not pay all standard hours owed (not overtime/commission however).
Only the latter can be withheld until the next pay period.

It's certainly a breach of your contractual terms.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/rights-at-work/pay/problems-getting-paid/#ifnotgettinganywhere

Comms69

sangie595 wrote: »

Your bills have to be paid - or you need permission to delay payment. Toy have no legal right to refuse to pay what is due.

It will take as long to go to court to get the money - longer- so there really isn't anything you can do other than ask the employer for an advance on the next payment or the money they owe you.

That said it's unlikely any action will be taken in the intervening 30 days. Personally I wouldn't pay them if it meant no food on the table.

gettingtheresometime

I appreciate it’s their mistake & a right royal pain to correct (what with tax & ni implications) but sometimes instead of going in all guns blazing & shouting about rights, you may get further in suggesting solutions.

Can you not ask them to advance you roughly what the difference is & then this amount can be deducted from your net salary next month?

That way they haven’t got to faff about trying to work out the tax/ni implications, you get your money this month & how it’s reclaimed is easy to do

Alternatively if payroll won’t do this can your manager authorise a loan from say petty cash

sangie595

discat11 wrote: »

It is against the wages act to not pay all standard hours owed (not overtime/commission however).
Only the latter can be withheld until the next pay period.

It's certainly a breach of your contractual terms.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/rights-at-work/pay/problems-getting-paid/#ifnotgettinganywhere

So what? Would you like to suggest a legal alternative to the advice already offered?

takman

Male sure you also take this as a warning sign that your fiances need to be urgently sorted if a few hundred pounds short means you need to resort to payday loans.

Get a plan in place and a budget to allow you to build up an emergency fund. Also you should look at getting a credit card because if you had one now you could have used that to make your normal purchases and effectively had an interest free "payday loan".

discat11

sangie595 wrote: »

So what? Would you like to suggest a legal alternative to the advice already offered?

Are you getting giddy up there on that high horse?

As you clearly missed it - I pointed out the legal framework for an appeal i.e. this is against a specific part of legislation which the OP can now quote -whether that has any effect or not, it's better than empty sympathy.

I also pointed out this breaches their contract -a repeat of this could be used to start a constructive dismissal claim for instance.

I also placed a helpful link with specific advice from a reliable organisation.

What I didn't do was bleat about how they should have a legal right to delay their bills - which they clearly haven't.

Think about it -whose post was the most helpful?

theroamingnomad

I'm so sorry this has happened to you.

Having been underpaid before, I know how it feels. I have always been expected to wait, initially. Both times, I went straight to the staff council and HR. I got the money very soon after on both occasions. That's been with weekly pay too. I couldn't imagine what kind of heartless company would expect you to wait a month for them to correct an error they made?

sangie595

discat11 wrote: »

Are you getting giddy up there on that high horse?

As you clearly missed it - I pointed out the legal framework for an appeal i.e. this is against a specific part of legislation which the OP can now quote -whether that has any effect or not, it's better than empty sympathy.

I also pointed out this breaches their contract -a repeat of this could be used to start a constructive dismissal claim for instance.

I also placed a helpful link with specific advice from a reliable organisation.

What I didn't do was bleat about how they should have a legal right to delay their bills - which they clearly haven't.

Think about it -whose post was the most helpful?

Well given that yours won't get them the money any quicker, whereas my suggestion of an advance would, I'd say that my post was the most helpful. As pointed out by others, going in quoting the law and your "rights" won't get your paid faster, but it will negatively impact on your relationship with your employer. The employer isn't refusing to pay. It's a mistake. Mistakes happen. Looking at how they can help you until it is corrected is the better approach.