Not been paid in full

benten69

Ok, bear with me a little as this may end up slightly long winded.

Basically, back in August I did quite a substantial amount of overtime and was looking forward to being paid this month. When I did get paid it looked a little short, but I was on holiday, so could not confirm with my pay slip.

Once I got back I checked and right enough, I was not paid as I should have been. So I contacted my line manager, they checked everything and said right enough, I was due almost double the overtime that had actually been paid, but no reason was given for the mistake.

Now before I spoke with my manager I contacted pay roll who said payment could be processed immediately once approval had come from management, which sounded fine.

Now I am being told that they will add the missing overtime into Octobers time sheet which means it will be paid in NOVEMBER!!

Now, I had plans for that money this month, add to the fact I am leaving the company at the end of this month, and if they mess up again I'll be properly stuck for how to get it after I leave the company.

Can they do this? Basically withhold payment from me for 2 months when I did nothing wrong? They keep saying "we don't know what caused this, but will let you know when we find out", almost as if to say its my fault and as such I will get paid when I get paid.

Now here is where it gets a bit messy. Back in August when I did my overtime, my team lead who signs off my time sheets did not like how I had entered some of my hours for my overtime, went in, changed my time sheet and silently approved it without my knowledge. When I found out I e-mailed them and it all kind of got messy and management got involved, etc.

It's all too coincidental that the days my team lead altered behind my back are the ones I never got paid for, but the ones I submitted properly got taken fine. I am wondering if the system "objected" to the fact that he had altered the time sheet without first returning it to me and having me re-submit from scratch, and that is what has caused this whole mess.

I have explained the above to management and said this could be why this has occurred, but again, I am being left in a financially difficult situation through no fault of my own and pay roll said it can be paid immediately, so why should I need to wait until November, etc.

Basically, I want to know, legally speaking, can the company insist on not paying me the overtime that I worked in August and was fully signed off weeks ago and make me wait until the end of November? Or are they legally obliged to make right their error immediately?

My manager totally agrees that I did the work and that I was not paid for it, I even have it all in writing (e-mails) but they seem to want me to wait until November to be paid, which I think is totally unreasonable.

I know it's "only" overtime and not the basic salary as is detailed within my contract, so I am not sure if my rights are any different.

I want them to pay it right now and they want to wait until end of November and manually add it in as "October overtime" when it was done in August.

Anyone able to shed any light on where I stand?

somethingcorporate

Is it really worth the hassle? They've agreed there is an issue and put a fix in place for you to get the money.


Appreciate it's frustrating but many companies do not like/want to pay outside their normal cycles and getting sign-off for such things can often take longer than just waiting and getting paid on the normal timeframes.


Even if you could fight it, what do you think you could do, aside from appeal to their better nature, to get paid any quicker?

benten69

somethingcorporate wrote: »

Is it really worth the hassle? They've agreed there is an issue and put a fix in place for you to get the money.


Appreciate it's frustrating but many companies do not like/want to pay outside their normal cycles and getting sign-off for such things can often take longer than just waiting and getting paid on the normal timeframes.


Even if you could fight it, what do you think you could do, aside from appeal to their better nature, to get paid any quicker?

Thing is, I need the money for things like insurance, boiler servicing, etc, and I need it now....not in 2 months, so yes it is worth the hassle.

Also, if they mess up again in November after I have left the company where do I stand? I want this sorted so I can get my basic pay for the next wages and move on with my new role.

Pay roll said it can be done easily and all they need is approval from management, so I fail to see why they are dragging heels.

Not to mention, had it been the other way and they overpaid me they would not be willing to wait 2 months for their money.

I am asking for what my legal rights are in this situation, if the law says they MUST pay up, then I will apply pressure until they do. If I don't have a leg to stand on, I'll wait because I have no choice, but why should I just wait when they owe me the money, acknowledge they owe me the money but don't want to pay for 2 months?! My insurance, plumber, etc, etc won't wait 2 months for their money and I don't expect them to, so why should I??

lincroft1710

If the company fails to pay the money at the end of November, then you sue them using Money Claim Online.

I'm not being critical but it sounds as if you had "spent" the money before receiving it. Insurance should be budgeted out of normal pay rather than overtime. I trust your new job will pay sufficiently well so that you don't have to rely on overtime for what is basically normal expenditure

Undervalued

benten69 wrote: »

Thing is, I need the money for things like insurance, boiler servicing, etc, and I need it now....not in 2 months, so yes it is worth the hassle.

Also, if they mess up again in November after I have left the company where do I stand? I want this sorted so I can get my basic pay for the next wages and move on with my new role.

Pay roll said it can be done easily and all they need is approval from management, so I fail to see why they are dragging heels.

Not to mention, had it been the other way and they overpaid me they would not be willing to wait 2 months for their money.

I am asking for what my legal rights are in this situation, if the law says they MUST pay up, then I will apply pressure until they do. If I don't have a leg to stand on, I'll wait because I have no choice, but why should I just wait when they owe me the money, acknowledge they owe me the money but don't want to pay for 2 months?! My insurance, plumber, etc, etc won't wait 2 months for their money and I don't expect them to, so why should I??

It is just like any other civil debt I'm afraid. If they don't pay you can send a "letter before action" giving them a short but reasonable period of time after which you will take legal action without further notice.

If they still don't pay you issue proceedings most likely via Money Claim Online (the online branch of the small claims court). You can add the cost of the court fee to the claim plus, in certain circumstances, any unavoidable expenses their failure to pay has caused you. Note you have a duty to minimise your losses (e.g use savings if possible before incurring a high cost loan etc).

All of which will take time, probably far longer than it will take them to pay if you do no more than gently remind them.

Yes it is annoying and yes it shouldn't happen but there is only so much you can do. With some individuals / companies getting "heavy" too soon will just antagonise them and delay payment further. That is a judgement call you will have to make.

benten69

Undervalued wrote: »

It is just like any other civil debt I'm afraid. If they don't pay you can send a "letter before action" giving them a short but reasonable period of time after which you will take legal action without further notice.

If they still don't pay you issue proceedings most likely via Money Claim Online (the online branch of the small claims court). You can add the cost of the court fee to the claim plus, in certain circumstances, any unavoidable expenses their failure to pay has caused you. Note you have a duty to minimise your losses (e.g use savings if possible before incurring a high cost loan etc).

All of which will take time, probably far longer than it will take them to pay if you do no more than gently remind them.

Yes it is annoying and yes it shouldn't happen but there is only so much you can do. With some individuals / companies getting "heavy" too soon will just antagonise them and delay payment further. That is a judgement call you will have to make.

Thanks, that answers my questions fully. I am still waiting to hear back from my manager after explaining that pay roll said it can be processed immediately once they receive approval and that it may have been caused by the time sheet issues that occurred back in August.

I have done my best to keep it all professional and calm without antagonizing anyone, but just giving a little nudge to say "hey, I kind of need the money and it's not my fault it has gone pear shaped, so work with me here, as pay roll say it can be done quickly if requested, and the issue may have been caused by that mess that occurred in August, which in all fairness, was not my fault".

If they come back and say "wait until November", I will as ultimately I can't do anything more, but at least I know where I stand now and what the next steps would be if they keep failing to pay. Will make sure to keep all copies of e-mails until money is in the bank.