Not Paid Following Garden Leave

ChopperST

A little advice please if anyone can help.

My partner gave the contractual one months notice and was immediately placed on garden leave for this period (one month). There is nothing in the contract of employment stating that garden leave is unpaid.

They should have been paid two days ago on the normal payroll run but the monies have not been forthcoming.

We have emailed the old boss and payroll department but have had no reply.

We would like to be as amicable as possible so wondering what a reasonable process to follow would be. I was thinking a polite letter asking for the funds in 5 working days before a letter before action and ultimately the small claims court as it seems to be a cut and dry case. (The amount in question is £1500)

Thanks in anticipation.

NIcechap_3

The lack of reply is a worrying sign. Is it a small company that might close and phoenix under a different name?

Only other thought is are there any training costs agreed to be paid back, or excess annual leave to be repaid?

Otherwise, your suggested plan sounds sensible to me.

tacpot12

Yes, a polite letter pointing out that the payment has not been made, and asking the employer to get in touch if there is an issue, seems to be the best way forward.

If you do need to go to Small Claims Court, your partner will need evidence that they were asked to go on garden leave/instructed not to come into the office. Ideally this evidence would be in written form (email is fine). Your partner will also need evidence of the date they gave notice, their letter of resignation should be ok. It would be worthwhile assembling all the evidence they need while waiting for the employer's response.

ChopperST

NIcechap wrote: »

The lack of reply is a worrying sign. Is it a small company that might close and phoenix under a different name?

Only other thought is are there any training costs agreed to be paid back, or excess annual leave to be repaid?

Otherwise, your suggested plan sounds sensible to me.

We suspected there may be an issue with pay so all correspondence was done over email confirming it was "garden leave" no reference was made as to any leave owed etc. Company is medium sized so don't think they would do this over such a small amount...

TELLIT01

It might be a simple c*ck up with payroll so you are right to try to keep things amicable until there is no other option than to start playing hardball.